Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump gestures as he takes the stage at his caucus evening vigil celebration in Des Moines, Iowa, the USA, on January 15, 2024 .
Evelyn Hockstein Reuters
DAVOS, Switzerland – World enterprise leaders could also be within the snowy mountains of Switzerland, however their conversations preserve coming again to Washington, D.C.
The subject of Donald Trump dominated the dinners and events in Davos, with many attendees of the World Financial Discussion board pondering the previous president's potential return to the White Home after his resounding victory within the Iowa caucus.
A number of enterprise leaders famous a theme of their non-public discussions through the summit: U.S. business leaders appear largely sad with a second Trump time period, whereas international CEOs are terrified — in notably immigration restrictions and potential world conflicts.
A outstanding U.S. enterprise govt, who requested to not be named as a result of his discussions with international leaders have been non-public, mentioned a part of the concern could also be attributable to a lack of awareness of the controls and built-in balances in American authorities.
“I'm undecided the Europeans perceive how weak the chief order is,” mentioned that individual. “Now we have a justice system. Congress will in all probability be divided. It's honest to be cautious, but it surely received't be the tip of the world.”
One other US financial institution CEO has privately expressed annoyance with the media's exaggeration of the specter of a Trump presidency, insisting it’s “all bark and no chew”. The top of the financial institution additionally rejected Trump's refusal to simply accept the outcomes of the 2020 elections as bloviation.
“He's going to win the presidency,” predicted the CEO. “Lots of his insurance policies have been proper.”
Predictions 2024
Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO, chairman and CEO JPMorgan Chase, talking on CNBC's Squawk Field on the annual assembly of the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland on January 17, 2024.
Adam Galici | CNBC
Whereas JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon isn't predicting a Trump victory, he echoed his fellow financial institution CEO's feedback in an interview Wednesday on CNBC's “Squawk Field.”
“Simply take a step again, and be trustworthy. He was type of proper about NATO. He was type of proper about immigration, he grew the economic system fairly nicely. Commerce. Tax reform has labored. It was nearly a few of China,” he mentioned. Demon. “I don't like how he mentioned issues about Mexico, however he wasn't incorrect on a few of these important points. And that's why they voted for him.”
Nonetheless, whereas Dimon additionally echoed the sentiment that an apocalypse is unlikely, he famous that he hopes “the nation will survive” with both President Joe Biden's re-election or Trump's return to the White Home, whilst some concern that American democracy be. threatened by his return.
“I shall be ready for each, we are going to cope with each, my firm will survive and thrive in each,” Dimon mentioned.
A companion at a serious world non-public fairness agency mentioned privately that he was stunned by the dearth of concern amongst American leaders given Trump's refusal to simply accept his election defeat in 2020 and the following upheaval of the USA Capitol on January 6, 2021.
One other former Trump administration official mentioned this time there may be extra trigger for concern as a result of lots of the individuals who preserve Trump's damaging agenda in test received't work with him if he returns to workplace. .
Steve Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founding father of Blackstone Group, talking on CNBC's Squawk Field on the World Financial Discussion board Annual Assembly in Davos, Switzerland on January 17, 2024.
Adam Galici | CNBC
Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman expressed one other widespread theme amongst executives — that Trump and Biden are the incorrect selections.
“I feel we're going to have an attention-grabbing presidential election proper now, the place there's plenty of very excessive negatives, as , for each candidates,” Schwarzman mentioned, including that he's trying ahead to seeing how issues play out. “I'm not within the hypothetical world as a lot as you want to be. And we'll see what occurs. There are all the time surprises in these elections.”
Ben Smith, co-founder of enterprise information outlet Semafor, informed CNBC on Thursday that he heard from many at Davos that Trump is prone to win — however given Davos' poor forecasting document in years previous, that will really be the case. an indicator for Biden. .
Smith and several other different Davos attendees famous that the predictions made on the World Financial Discussion board are traditionally incorrect, together with previous feedback about recession prospects and the probability of Trump successful the presidency in 2016.
“This yr it's an absolute article of religion that Donald Trump shall be elected president of the USA, which I feel is nice information for Joe Biden,” Smith mentioned in an interview on “Squawk Field.”
Cross nation
Whereas Wall Avenue executives have been open and making ready for a Trump victory in 2024, numerous tech executives declined to touch upon Trump or downplayed what others see as a possible menace to the US authorities.
“Clearly the US authorities is a giant buyer of Salesforce, and relying on who's in workplace it creates an entire lot of pleasure with a special a part of our worker base,” mentioned Marc Benioff. SalesforceCEO, in an interview Tuesday with Bloomberg's Brad Stone. “However the actuality is, hey, we're the identical firm no matter when the election goes to be.
Marc Benioff, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, talking with CNBC's Sara Eisen on the annual assembly of the World Financial Discussion board in Davos, Switzerland on January 17, 2024.
Adam Galici | CNBC
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who additionally spoke with Stone, expressed comparable sentiments.
“I feel elections are, , big offers. I feel America's going to do nicely,” Altman mentioned. “It doesn't matter what occurs on this election.”
Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman mentioned it's just too early to deal with what Trump could or could not imply for the nation this time round.
“Truthfully, I feel they should see how the primaries shake out,” Friedman mentioned.
WATCH: Jamie Dimon's full interview with CNBC's Squawk Field
