US President Donald Trump has said Europe is “not heading in the right direction,” as he used a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday to contrast the United States’ economic trajectory with what he described as decline across parts of the continent.
Addressing global political and business leaders, Trump claimed the United States had undergone a dramatic turnaround in just over a year, moving from what he called economic stagnation under the Democrats to becoming “the hottest country anywhere in the world.” He said the US economy was now growing at nearly double the rate projected by the International Monetary Fund last April, crediting what he described as his growth-focused and tariff-driven policies.
According to Trump, the US remains the central engine of the global economy, arguing that when America performs well, the rest of the world benefits. “When America booms, the entire world booms,” he said, adding that global economic downturns have historically followed periods of US decline.
However, the president reserved some of his strongest remarks for Europe, suggesting that parts of the continent had changed for the worse. He said some European countries were “not even recognisable anymore,” insisting that his comments were not meant as an insult but as an expression of concern.
He said, “I want to discuss how we’ve achieved this economic miracle, how we intend to raise living standards for our citizens to levels never seen before, and perhaps how you too and the places where you come from can do much better by following what we’re doing, because certain places in Europe are not even recognisable anymore. They’re not recognisable and we can argue about it, but there’s no argument.
“Friends come back from different places. I don’t want to insult anybody and say I don’t recognise it. And that’s not in a positive way. That’s in a very negative way. And I love Europe and I want to see Europe go good. But it’s not heading in the right direction.”
He also said, “Quite frankly, many parts of our world are being destroyed before our very eyes. And the leaders don’t even understand what’s happening. And the ones that do understand aren’t doing anything about it.”
Melissa Enoch
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