New US President Donald Trump gave guarantees on the security of future LNG supplies to Europe during a characteristically straight-talking video address at Davos this afternoon.
Despite only being three days into the job, his wide-ranging 45-minute presentation reminded delegates and the world listening in online of his bold leadership style and desire to act decisively, following on from the slew of executive orders that were signed on the first day.
Responding to a question from Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman of TotalEnergies, the fourth largest oil and gas company, he said, “If you make a deal, we make a deal – you get it,” he said.
Trump went on to talk about two plants in Louisiana which were bogged down by permits. “They were in review for years,” he said. “It was a total investment of $25-30bn – and I got them done in less than a week. It was the right thing to do for the US and the world. So what I’d like to see is rapid approvals. The big problem is we need double the energy we currently have in the US. We’re going to make it so that plants will have their own electric generating facilities and they don’t have to worry about a utility.”
In a week when decarbonisation and sustainability has been debated at length in numerable presentations, Trump outlined an alternative view, even at one stage advocating “good clean coal” as an electricity back-up. He was equally tough on The Green New Deal, branding it a “total disgrace” that was “conceived by less-than-average students”.
He was happier talking up an imminent US-Saudi Arabia trade deal. “It’s reported that Saudi Arabia will be investing $600bn in America but I’ll be asking the Crown Prince, a fantastic guy, to round it off to $1 trillion. I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them.”
In questions, Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone Group, said a lot of European business people have expressed frustration with regulations – which Trump was quick to seize on.
“The EU treats us very unfairly and badly, they have a large tax which we know about, and it’s very substantial – they essentially don’t take our farm products or cars, though they send their cars by the millions. The EU has to speed up their process. I’m trying to be constructive, I love Europe, the countries of Europe, but the process is cumbersome and they treat the US very unfairly with VAT taxes.”
Business-minded Trump reiterated pledges to bring down inflation, “obliterate” debt, and spur US growth. “I got corporate tax from 40% down to 21%, and now it will be 15% if you make your product in the US,” he said.
“My message is very simple – come and make your product in America and we will give you the lowest taxes. But then if you don’t, then you will have to pay a tariff, which will direct hundreds of billions of dollars, and even trillions of dollars, into our Treasury to strengthen our economy and pay down debt.”
Canada was also in the firing line, with the US President saying it was very tough to deal with over the years. “It’s not fair that we should have a $250bn deficit. We don’t need their lumber or oil and gas.”
He intends to take an equally tough stance in the geopolitical arena. “We really have to stop the Ukraine war – I’m not talking economics or politics, there are so many young people killed. Likewise in the Middle East, that’s going to come along pretty well.”
