National interest rules, everyone else bows: Trump's lessons from Davos

US President Donald Trump speaks at the "Board of Peace" meeting during the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos on January 22, 2026. [AFP]

For billions of people across the world, this past week would quietly pass as another five days in the count down towards the end of January blues. However, for the world’s big boys and girls, it was one of the most consequential weeks in setting the world economic agenda for 2026. The 56th World Economic Forum (WEF) convened at the remote Swiss town called Davos, which hosts the event each year.

Curiously, the forum convenes at a time when the world’s poor and middle class are at their lowest after the Christmas festive damages to their pockets. Implicitly, this highlights one of the main criticisms leveled against the forum as an elite club that’s completely out of touch with reality for the majority of the people of the world that it purports to speak for.