By JAMEY KEATEN

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Corporate chiefs and government leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump swarm into Davos, Switzerland, this week, joining an elite annual meeting that promotes dialogue and economic progress — even as a domineering tone from Washington has upended the global order and billionaires have reaped trillions in new wealth as the poor lag behind.

The World Economic Forum, the think tank whose four-day annual meeting opens Tuesday, has a stated motto of “improving the state of the world,” and this year’s theme is “A spirit of dialogue.” One question is whether Trump will speak with attendees — or at them.

Nearly 3,000 attendees from the interlinked worlds of business, advocacy and policy will tackle issues including the growing gap between rich and poor; AI’s impact on jobs; concerns about geo-economic conflict; tariffs that have rocked longstanding trade relationships; and an erosion of trust between communities and countries.

“It’s really going to be a discussion at a very important moment … geopolitics is changing,” said Mirek Dušek, a forum managing director in charge of programming. “Some people think we’re in a transition. Some people think we’ve already entered a new era. But I think it’s undeniable that you are seeing a more competitive, more contested landscape.”

Trump set to loom large

Trump’s third visit to Davos as president comes as U.S. allies worry about his ambition to take over Greenland, Latin America is grappling with his efforts to reap Venezuela’s oil, and his hardball tactics toward Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell have stirred concern among business leaders and lawmakers alike.

Trump’s peace-making credentials also will be on the table: An announcement looms about his “ Board of Peace ” for Gaza, and he and his administration are expected to have bilateral meetings in the warren of side rooms at the Congress Center.

The U.S. leader seems to revel in strolling through the Davos Congress Center and among executives who back his business-minded, money-making approach to politics.

Critics will also be nearby: He’s blown hot and cold recently with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, an invitee; Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi of Iran, whose leaders face U.S. sanctions over their handling of recent protests, was set to speak but organizers on Monday canceled his appearance, saying “the tragic loss of civilian lives” means “it is not right” for the government to be represented.

The two likeliest counterweights to Trump’s administration on the international scene — China and the European Union — get top billing on the first day: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will speak Tuesday morning, right before Vice Premier He Lifeng, China’s “economic czar” — as Dušek put it.

Founder Schwab sits out, as Nvidia chief makes a debut

The forum will be without its founder, Klaus Schwab, who hosted the first event in Davos 55 years ago focusing on business, only to see it since balloon into a catchall extravaganza. He stepped down in April. New co-chairs Larry Fink, the head of investment firm BlackRock, and Andre Hoffman, vice chair of pharmaceuticals firm Roche, are in charge.

This year will also mark the debut appearance of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, arguably the world’s most important tech leader today, among some 850 CEOs and chairs of global companies – along with celebrities like Hollywood actor and safe-water advocate Matt Damon.

The future of AI, its impact on business and work, and the prospects for artificial general intelligence will be key themes.

The presidents of Argentina, France, Indonesia, Syria and Ukraine will be among the dozens of national leaders on hand.

As rich-poor divide widens, trust in institutions falters

Leading public-relations firm Edelman reports in its annual trust barometer – launched a quarter-century ago and this year surveying nearly 34,000 people in 28 countries – that trade and recession fears have climbed to an all-time high, optimism is falling especially in developed countries, and “grievance” last year has morphed into broader “insularity.”

“People are retreating from dialogue and compromise, choosing the safety of the familiar over the perceived risk of change,” said CEO Richard Edelman. “We favor nationalism over global connection and individual gain over joint progress. Our mentality has shifted from ‘we’ to ‘me’.”

The survey found that about two-thirds of respondents said their trust was concentrated toward CEOs of the companies that they work for, fellow citizens or neighbors, while nearly 70% believed institutional leaders — such as from business or government — deliberately mislead the public.

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Oxfam, the world-renowned advocacy group, issued a report which showed that billionaire wealth rose by more than 16% last year, three times faster than the past five-year average, to more than $18 trillion. It drew on Forbes magazine data on the world’s richest people.

Oxfam said the $2.5 trillion rise in the wealth of billionaires last year would be enough to eradicate extreme poverty 26 times over. Their wealth has risen by more than four-fifths since 2020, while nearly half the world’s population lives in poverty, the group said.

The Trump administration has led a “pro-billionaire agenda,” the group said, through actions such as slashing taxes for the wealthiest, fostering the growth of AI-related stocks that help rich investors get richer, and thwarting efforts to tax giant companies.

The advocacy group wants more national efforts to reduce inequality, higher taxes on the ultra-rich to reduce their power, and greater limits on their ability to shape policy through lobbying.

With such concerns filtering through to policymakers, Trump, who is leading the biggest-ever U.S. delegation and will have about a half-dozen Cabinet secretaries in tow, is expected to discuss housing and affordability in his Davos speech on Wednesday.

Critics of WEF, and Trump, take to the streets

As usual, protesters rallied over the weekend in and near Davos ahead of the event. Hundreds of marchers scaled an Alpine road up to the town on Saturday behind a banner in German that read “No Profit from War” and alongside a truck that bore a sign: World Economic Failure.

Companies like Microsoft, India’s Tata Consultancy, social media titan TikTok and cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike joined governments from countries like Nigeria, Qatar, Ukraine and the United States — a USA House is making a debut this year — to set up shop on the Davos Promenade to promote their services, products and national economies.

Davos storekeepers rent out their premises so that forum participants can have the prime real estate for the week.

Critics have long accused the annual meeting of generating more rhetoric than results, and they see Trump’s return as sign of the disconnect between haves and have-nots. Some say Swiss leaders who support the event and flock to Davos too are adding to the problem.

“It is worrying how Swiss politicians are courting warmongers and their profiteers in Davos,” said Mirjam Hostetmann, president of Switzerland’s Young Socialists, who have led protests against the event. “The WEF will never bring peace, but will only fuel escalation.”

AP World Economic Forum: https://apnews.com/hub/world-economic-forum

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Nearly 3,000 high-level participants from business, government and beyond plus untold numbers of activists, journalists and outside observers are converging in the Swiss town of Davos for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting.

Here’s a look at the latest edition of the elite affair in the Alpine snows:

The WEF and Davos

The forum is a think tank and event organizer based in Geneva whose main event — the annual meeting — debuted in 1971 in Davos, a ski-resort town of about 10,000 people at a height of about 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet) in the Alps of eastern Switzerland.

The first edition, hosted by forum founder Klaus Schwab, featured a gathering of business executives.

Since then, the meeting has swelled into a catch-all conference on issues as diverse as economic disparity, climate change, technology, and global cooperation — as well as competition and conflict.

More than 200 sessions will tackle a wide array of issues.

Who’s going?

Organizers says a record of nearly 400 top political leaders, including more than 60 heads of state and government, and nearly 850 chairs and chief executives of many of the world’s leading companies.

Headlining the lineup is U.S. President Donald Trump, who’s set to deliver a speech on Wednesday, and several Cabinet ministers and top advisers including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and special envoy Steve Witkoff.

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President Emmanuel Macron of France, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, President Ahmad al-Sharaa of Syria, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, President Felix Tshisekedi of Congo, Vice Premier He Lifeng of China, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine are among the who’s-who of top attendees.

Organizers say 55 ministers for economy and finance, 33 ministers for foreign affairs, 34 ministers for trade, commerce and industry, and 11 central bank governors are also expected.

Tech titans scheduled to be on hand include Jensen Huang of Nvidia. Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, and Arthur Mensch of France’s Mistral AI.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala are among scores of top officials from international institutions.

What’s different this year?

The geopolitical context has become incredibly complex this year: Trump’s pronouncements and policies on subjects as diverse as Venezuela, Greenland and Iran — not to mention his aggressive tariff policies — have upended the world order and raised questions about America’s role in the world.

The advent of AI — its promise and perils — has also become a hot topic. Business executives will examine how to apply it to boost efficiency and profits; labor leaders and advocacy groups will warn of its threat to jobs and livelihoods, and policymakers will look to navigate the best way forward between regulation and right to innovate.

Davos conference organizers always trot out buzzwords for the meeting, and this year’s is “A Spirit of Dialogue” — around five themes of cooperation, growth, investment in people, innovation and building prosperity.

Critics say Davos is too much talk and not enough action to rectify gaping inequality in the world and address troubles like climate change.

AP World Economic Forum: https://apnews.com/hub/world-economic-forum

By LORNE COOK

BRUSSELS (AP) — “Intimidation,” “threats” and “blackmail” are just some of the terms being used by European Union leaders to describe U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that he will slap new tariffs on nations opposing American control of Greenland.

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European language has hardened since Trump returned to the White House 12 months ago. Now it’s in reaction to the previously unthinkable idea that NATO’s most powerful member would threaten to seize the territory of another ally. Trade retaliation is likely should Trump make good on his tariff announcement.

A year into Trump 2.0, Europe’s faith in the strength of the transatlantic bond is fading fast. For some, it’s already disappeared. The flattery of past months has not worked and tactics are evolving as the Europeans try to manage threats from an old ally just as they confront the threat of an increasingly hostile Russia.

Trump’s first term brought NATO to the brink of collapse. “I feared that NATO was about to stop functioning,” former Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wrote in his recent memoir, after the U.S. president had threatened to walk out of a 2018 summit.

Now, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is warning that should he try to annex Greenland, a semiautonomous part of Denmark, “then everything stops … including our NATO.”

“We are at the very early stage of a rather deep political-military crisis,” said Maria Martisiute, a European Policy Centre analyst. “There is a greater realization, even though political leaders will not like to admit it, that America has abandoned NATO.”

FILE – President Donald Trump speaks before he signs a presidential memorandum imposing tariffs and investment restrictions on China in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, March 22, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Reading the riot act

In January 2025, U.S. allies at NATO were waiting to hear Trump’s plans for Ukraine.

Europe’s biggest land war in decades was about to enter its fourth year. The Europeans believed that President Vladimir Putin would pose an existential threat to their territory should Russia win.

Few thought that Biden administration policies would continue. But within weeks, any lingering hopes for the U.S. commitment to Ukraine dissolved. American arms supplies and funds began to dry up. Europe would have to fill the gap and pay for U.S. help.

In a speech at NATO headquarters in February, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth read the riot act to European allies and Canada. The United States had priorities elsewhere and Europe must handle security in its own backyard.

Ukraine would not join the alliance. Its territory seized by Russia would not be returned. The Europeans could pull together a force to help Ukraine if they wanted, but they wouldn’t get U.S. help if they went into the country and got attacked.

Trump has since blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the invasion.

Days later that February, in Munich, Vice President JD Vance met the leader of a far-right party during election campaigning in Germany. He claimed that Europe’s main threat was internal, not Russia. Free speech is “in retreat” across the continent, Vance warned.

But after winning the poll, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, said that “in view of the increasing threat situation,” Germany and Europe “must now very quickly make very big efforts, very quickly,” to strengthen their defense capabilities.

Chairman of the Naalakkersuisut, Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen and Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, give a statement on the current situation at a press conference in the Mirror Hall at the Prime Minister’s Office in Copenhagen, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Europe’s security independence

Over the course of last year, European leaders and Zelenskyy flew to Washington to try to keep Trump onside. A 28-point plan to end the war that he floated would acquiesce to many Russian demands.

The plan was reworked. Talks continue, but without Putin. Few expect him to accept. Trump mostly blames Zelenskyy for the stalemate.

Meanwhile, Europe pressed ahead with new defense measures, even as Trump waged a global tariff war, including against U.S. allies, roiling their economies.

The EU created a multibillion-euro fund to buy arms and ammunition, with the emphasis on sourcing them from European companies and weaning nations off U.S. suppliers.

Debt rules were eased for security spending. Money was funneled into Ukraine’s defense industry. In December, European leaders agreed to pay for most of its military and economic needs for the next two years as Kyiv teeters on the brink of bankruptcy.

A new U.S. national security strategy further soured transatlantic relations. It paints European allies as weak, offers tacit support to far-right political parties, and criticizes European free speech and migration policy.

European Council President Antonio Costa warned the U.S. against interfering in Europe’s affairs. Merz said that the U.S. strategy underscores the need for Europe to become “much more independent” from the United States.

Work has since begun on Europe’s own security strategy. It aims to respond to “the geopolitical changes in our world and to give an appropriate answer to that,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Part of it is to make Europe even more autonomous.

As France, Germany, the U.K., Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands sent troops to Greenland last week — small in number but highly symbolic in the message of resolve sent to the White House — French President Emmanuel Macron said that it’s important “to stand at the side of a sovereign state to protect its territory.”

“Europe is being shaken from some of its certainties,” he told French military chiefs. “It sometimes has allies that we thought were predictable, fearless, always by our side, who are now causing us to doubt a lot, or are even turning against those who expected it the least.”

By The Associated Press

Government offices, the stock market and many schools are closed Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but most businesses are open.

National Parks are still open on MLK Day although they are no longer free this year after President Donald Trump made a change in the two days that will be free this year.

When in doubt, call ahead or look up more specific schedules online for stores in your neighborhood.

Here’s a rundown of what’s open and closed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 2026:

Government offices

MLK Day is an official holiday honoring the civil rights leader’s birthday and legacy, so federal and state government offices are closed. Courts and most schools are also closed.

Banks and the stock market

U.S. stock markets and banks are closed Monday but will reopen on Tuesday.

National and state parks

Last month, the National Park Service announced it will no longer offer free admission to parks on King Day and Juneteenth, but instead on Flag Day and Trump’s birthday.

But California Gov. Gavin Newsom defied Trump and ordered more than 200 state parks to offer free admission on Monday.

Retailers

Most stores and other businesses are open.