Rachel Reeves is heading to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos later today in a push to win new investment for the UK economy.
Reeves will be emphasising the UK’s political and economic stability and promoting the government as pro-business.
She is expected to meet business leaders including the JPMorgan Chase chief executive, Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs boss David Solomon, and Jo Taylor, president of giant Canadian pensions fund the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
Reeves said:“Business leaders and investors need to know that the UK is where their businesses will flourish, so I’m meeting them face to face in Davos to make our case.”
Donald Trump is looming over delegates at the WEF.
Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, is predicting a “dramatic shift to the US-China relationship” in the next few months.
Bremmer tells WEF that he believes the US China relationship is the one where it will be most problematic to get a deal.
He predicts we are heading towards a trade war, and a more strategic decoupling of the two economies.
“China’s complicated,” Bremmer points out, saying that the only way US-China relations were stabilised recently was due to a large number of bilateral meeting between the two sides.
Bremmer says Trump wants to meet Xi, flatter him, and get a deal … but it will be hard to get a deal that works for all in his administration, and which will please Congress.
Karen Harris, managing director of Bain & Company’s Macro Trends Group, points out that the last five years have been the most “macro-economically shocking in modern history”, starting with the Covid-19 pandemic and followed by the inflation shock.
Harris adds:“As business and political leaders gather in Davos in 2025, one key question dominates: Will this tumultuous five-year period end with a gentle return to normal?
“The data suggests so. The IMF projects 2024 global growth at 3.2%, slightly below the 2010–2019 median of 3.5%, with 2025 growth at 3.3%. To our 2019 selves, these numbers might imply normalcy: the US and China driving growth, Europe sluggish, global output steady at 3–3.5%.“Yet beneath these numbers sits fragility: alarming unemployment change in the US, deflation in China, stagnation in Europe, and a high degree of equity market concentration.
“Additionally, the change of US administration also challenges this narrative. A focus on reducing trade deficits, primarily affecting China but also Europe, could disrupt the US’s role as a major provider of global demand. If the US undergoes such structural shifts, the EU could face intense competition with China for export market share. This complicates the notion of a back-to-normal soft landing. Instead, normal will be continued uncertainty.”
The agenda
• 8.15am CET / 7.15am GMT: A session on ‘47th US Presidency Early Thoughts’
• 9.30am CET / 8.30am GMT: Conversation with David Beckham
• 9.30am CET / 8.30am GMT: Session on the US Dollar
• 10.50am CET / 9.50am GMT: Special Address by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
• 11.20am CET /10.20am GMT: Special Address by Ding Xuexiang, Vice-Premier of the People’s Republic of China
• 1pm CET / noon GMT: A session on crypto
• 2pm CET / 1pm GMT: Special Address by Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany
• 2.30pm CET / 1.30pm GMT: Special Address by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine
• 3pm CET / 2pm GMT: Special Address by Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa
• 5pm CET/ 4pm GMT: A Conversation with Isaac Herzog, President of Israel
We'll be tracking all the main events throughout the day …
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