Analysis of: Trump in Davos ahead of speech to world leaders – live
The Guardian | January 21, 2026
The World Economic Forum in Davos serves as a striking tableau of concentrated capitalist power meeting geopolitical crisis. As 5,000 delegates—executives, heads of state, and financiers—crowd into halls to hear Donald Trump speak, the event reveals the interconnected interests of global capital and state power. The gathering brings together JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon discussing AI's threat to workers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissing Denmark as 'irrelevant,' and Rachel Reeves celebrating £1.5 billion in investment deals—all while working-class concerns are relegated to warnings about potential 'revolution' if job losses continue. The Greenland crisis exposes fundamental contradictions within the Western alliance structure built during the post-war period. Trump's threats to impose tariffs on European allies over territorial ambitions represent a shift from multilateral imperialism to a more openly nationalist form of resource competition. The presence of union leader Liz Shuler warning that AI-driven unemployment could trigger social upheaval stands in stark contrast to Dimon's assurances that corporations won't 'kill all our employees tomorrow'—revealing the class tensions simmering beneath the surface of elite consensus. The material stakes are immense: Greenland's rare earth minerals, Arctic shipping routes, and military positioning; AI's potential to displace millions of workers; and the scramble to maintain or reshape trade relationships that determine which nations capture surplus value in global production. Gold hitting record highs signals capitalist anxiety about the stability of the very system these delegates represent. The forum itself embodies the contradiction of an event ostensibly about 'global cooperation' that may need to relocate because it has 'outgrown' its venue—a metaphor for a system straining against its own contradictions.
Class Dynamics
Actors: Global capitalist class (Dimon, Fink, corporate executives), State representatives serving capital (Trump, Bessent, Reeves), European political leadership (Macron, Rutte, Merz), Organized labor (AFL-CIO's Shuler representing 15 million workers), Tech capital (Nvidia's Huang), Financial capital (JPMorgan, BlackRock, M&G), Working class (referenced abstractly as potential job losses)
Beneficiaries: US-based transnational capital seeking deregulation, Military-industrial complex (calls for stronger NATO, increased defense spending), Pharmaceutical and tech corporations securing investment deals, Financial institutions positioning for AI-driven restructuring
Harmed Parties: Workers facing AI displacement, European workers facing austerity demands, Danish citizens dismissed as 'irrelevant', Greenlandic population whose self-determination is ignored, British pub workers and hospitality staff facing business rate increases, Palestinian people mentioned only in passing
The forum demonstrates the interpenetration of state and capital at the highest levels. Bessent speaks for US imperial interests while corporate executives like Dimon advocate for policies that serve their class. The physical arrangement—overcrowded halls, VIP dinners with heckling, queues to see Trump—reveals the hierarchy within capital itself. European leaders appear defensive, while US representatives project dominance. Labor's voice (Shuler) is included but marginalized, warning of consequences rather than shaping outcomes.
Material Conditions
Economic Factors: Greenland's rare earth minerals and strategic Arctic position, AI technology threatening mass labor displacement, Trade deficits and surplus extraction between imperial powers, Rising inflation (UK at 3.4%) squeezing working-class purchasing power, Gold at record $4,878/oz indicating capital flight to safe havens, European 'competitiveness' crisis (Draghi report), Japanese bond market instability
The forum reveals production relations in crisis. Dimon's discussion of AI displacement exposes the contradiction between labor-saving technology and capitalism's need for consumer markets. The 'retraining' solution proposed maintains the fiction that workers can adapt rather than addressing structural unemployment. Meanwhile, UK Chancellor Reeves celebrates investment that will primarily benefit shareholders while offering only sector-specific relief for struggling pubs. The emphasis on 'growth' (Bessent's 'grow, baby, grow') reveals capitalism's imperative to expand regardless of social costs.
Resources at Stake: Greenland's mineral resources and geographic position, Control over Arctic shipping routes, Diego Garcia military base, European market access for US capital, AI technology and its productivity gains, Treasury bond markets and dollar hegemony, Energy resources (Nord Stream references)
Historical Context
Precedents: US purchase of Virgin Islands from Denmark (1917), Historical great power territorial acquisitions, Post-WWII NATO alliance formation, Liz Truss budget crisis (2022), Nord Stream pipeline construction and destruction, Previous Davos forums and their role in neoliberal consensus-building
This moment represents late-stage neoliberalism transitioning toward a more openly nationalist-imperialist phase. The post-1945 multilateral institutions that managed inter-imperialist rivalry are fracturing as the US abandons the pretense of rule-based order when it conflicts with direct interests. Bessent's dismissal of Denmark echoes historical great power contempt for smaller nations. The AI discussion parallels previous technological disruptions (mechanization, automation) that restructured class relations while maintaining capitalist ownership. Mark Carney's admission that 'the old order is not coming back' signals ruling-class recognition of systemic transformation.
Contradictions
Primary: The contradiction between the need for international capitalist cooperation (trade, investment, technology sharing) and intensifying nationalist competition for resources and markets. Trump's tariff threats against allies while seeking their acquiescence to territorial expansion embodies this irreconcilable tension.
Secondary: AI productivity gains versus need for employed consumers to purchase commodities, European dependence on US security versus resistance to US economic domination, Davos rhetoric of 'stakeholder capitalism' versus actual policies serving concentrated wealth, UK's simultaneous pursuit of US and EU trade relationships, Climate crisis versus growth imperative ('grow, baby, grow'), Democratic legitimacy versus elite decision-making (5,000 delegates, no workers)
These contradictions are unlikely to find stable resolution within the current system. The inter-imperialist tensions may temporarily stabilize through deals that sacrifice peripheral nations' interests (Greenland, Ukraine), but the underlying competition for resources and markets will intensify. The AI-labor contradiction could generate significant social unrest, as Shuler warns. The forum's potential relocation to Detroit or Dublin symbolizes the system's inability to contain its own contradictions—even its ritual gatherings strain against material limits.
Global Interconnections
The Davos gathering reveals how seemingly separate crises—Greenland tensions, AI displacement, inflation, trade wars—are interconnected expressions of capitalist accumulation in crisis. Trump's territorial ambitions connect to resource competition as climate change opens Arctic routes and rare earth demand grows for green technology. European 'competitiveness' concerns reflect the declining rate of profit driving austerity demands on workers. The presence of Egyptian and Palestinian leaders highlights how core-periphery relations shape 'peace processes' serving great power interests. The forum itself functions as ideological apparatus, legitimizing capitalist rule through the appearance of inclusive dialogue while actual decisions occur in VIP dinners and bilateral meetings. The heckling of Lutnick at BlackRock's dinner reveals tensions within the ruling class, while Shuler's inclusion provides controlled opposition that channels worker discontent into reform demands. The reporting naturalizes this arrangement—treating delegates' concerns about 'populism' and 'instability' as neutral observations rather than class interests threatened by potential challenges from below.
Conclusion
Davos 2026 marks a moment of visible ruling-class anxiety as the contradictions of neoliberal globalization generate both inter-imperialist conflict and potential working-class resistance. The explicit warnings about 'revolution' from union leadership, combined with gold's record prices and fractured alliances, suggest capital recognizes the fragility of current arrangements. However, the forum also demonstrates capital's capacity for adaptation—reframing AI displacement as a 'retraining' challenge, territorial aggression as 'national security,' and austerity as 'competitiveness.' The coming period will test whether workers can organize independently of the managed channels represented by forum participation, and whether the contradictions on display will generate transformative movements or be contained through nationalist divisions and technological unemployment discipline.
Editorial Note: This analysis applies a dialectical materialist framework to news events. It represents one interpretive perspective and should not be considered objective reporting.
AI-Assisted Analysis | Confidence: 93%