The US President will deliver his keynote address at the Swiss ski resort of Davos this afternoon, where he is expected to push an ‘America First’ agenda to leaders of world business.
Arriving alongside the head of the WEF, Klaus Schwab, he told reporters gathering this morning that his message would be about “peace and prosperity”.
Donald Trump said: “My message is peace and prosperity. That’s what we have. And we have a tremendous crowd. A crowd like they’ve never had before.
“Klaus has actually told me this is a crowd like they have never had before in Davos, including all of you people like they’ve never had before.”
He joked: “So that’s good. I assume they’re here because of Klaus.”
Mr Schwab quipped: “No, they’re there for him. He’s a great guest here.”
Mr Trump told reporters he thought his message would be “very well-received”, adding: “The United States is doing fantastically well.
“Better than we’ve done in decades. The stock markets are incredible. Businesses are coming back into the United States.
“I think it’s going to be a great message that people are going to like hearing.”
His agenda has included unilateral trade sanctions and threats of more action, particularly against China.
But a thrust of his visit has been to convince business leaders to step up investment in the United States.
A US official told reporters in Davos: “The United States will no longer tolerate things like the theft of intellectual property or forced technology transfers or industrial subsidies … and dumping, trade abuses.”
Mr Trump is due to give his speech at 1pm.