As elite Davos event ends, some hail ‘constructive optimism’ despite divisions, suffering in world

DAVOS, Switzerland — The European Central Bank’s president responded Friday to U.S. President Donald Trump’s accusation of unfair trade treatment by the European Union by calling for negotiations and mutual respect rather than a focus purely on trans-Atlantic trade figures. The comments by Christine Lagarde alluding to a U.S.-EU rift offered a fitting final note at the World Economic Forum’s weeklong meeting: Trump’s return to the White House on Monday was on everyone’s lips, overshadowing traditional Davos talk about issues like climate change, free trade and economic development. Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, echoed Lagarde by saying that trade patterns show the benefits of open relationships, and countries that fare best are ones “that are friends with everybody.” An intensified trans-Atlantic competition, despite calls for cooperation, belied an overall upbeat mood among many business leaders in Davos who are looking for economic growth, fewer regulations, lower taxes and greater efficiencies through technologies like artificial intelligence — another key theme to the week. He sensed “more understanding” among European government leaders about “the need for competitiveness in Europe, the need to undertake reform, the need to make some hard changes that still, politically, will be hard.” Critics insisted that talk of “constructive optimism” — a buzzword among many this week — was overblown. Amnesty chief says ‘we can’t hide our faces in the sand’ Agnès Callamard, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, said that the reception to Trump among many elites in Davos was “very striking,” adding: “There is almost not a negative word that is being uttered about what he is planning to do.” In Davos, where luxury suites, Champagne-doused parties and custom-tailored suits abound — far from the suffering around the world — “there is a real determination not to see Trump 2.0 as a threat to peace and to prosperity,” she said.