- North America loomed large over the World Economic Forum's 56th Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
- US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered special addresses at a moment of tense geopolitical tensions.
- North American business and cultural leaders participated in discussion on everything from artificial intelligence to safe access to water.
North America was a focal point of the World Economic Forum's 56th Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, with US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney among the most prominent leaders in attendance.
The two leaders arrived at the Alpine gathering amid heightened geopolitical tensions and far-reaching geo-economic shifts, driven in large part by dramatic policy changes in Washington. Their participation, which coincided with a tense moment in US-European relations over US threats to take over Greenland and impose tariffs, underscored North America's influence on global affairs at a time that is increasingly defined by fragmentation and shifts towards a more multipolar world.
Beyond political leadership, the meeting was marked by a strong showing from North American business leaders and cultural figures.
Executives from across industries - including Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase; Alex Karp, CEO and Co-Founder of Palantir; Larry Fink, Chair and CEO of BlackRock and Interim Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum; Marc Benioff, CEO and Co-Founder of Salesforce, and Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation, to name a few - joined conversations on growth, resilience and technological transformation. Meanwhile, well-known academics and cultural figures contributed to broader debates on issues ranging from sustainability to social cohesion.
Together, this wide-ranging North American participation reflected the region's continued ability to shape global dialogue. Not only through global leadership and government policy, but also through private-sector innovation, economic might and cultural influence.
Here are some of the North American highlights from Davos 2026.
'Principled and pragmatic'
North America's participation in the Annual Meeting was showcased most prominently in special addresses delivered by President Trump and President Carey.
In a lengthy speech delivered at a fraught moment in US-European relations, Trump largely criticized previously longstanding US allies and spoke on a wide range of issues including trade and tariffs, regional security, AI development, nuclear power, housing affordability, migration and pandemics. One highlight came in relation to persistent US threats to take over Greenland: "I won't use force" to attain the island, Trump said. Amid the threats and uncertainty, US stocks, government bonds and the value of the US dollar fell precipitously .
That evening, Trump announced that a framework of a deal on Greenland had been reached and that the US would not impose tariffs on European countries. Throughout the day, confidence was largely restored in financial markets.
Trump was accompanied in Davos by a high-level delegation that included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent , Energy Secretary Chris Wright , Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks .
Furthermore, on the margins of the Annual Meeting, the US government organized a signing event focused on peace and recovery in Gaza. The World Economic Forum facilitated the session in the Davos Congress Centre.
In a speech delivered earlier in the week, Carney delivered a stark assessment of the global moment. "For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order," he said. "We joined its institutions, we praised its principles, we benefited from its predictability… this bargain no longer works."
Moving forward, Carney said "we aim to be both principled and pragmatic," adding that Canada will "actively take on the world as it is, not wait around for the world we wish to be."
Carney was also joined in Davos by a high-level delegation that included Foreign Minister Amita Anand, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne , Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu and Minister of Industry Melanie Joly.
A bipartisan delegation of US governors and lawmakers were also in Davos.
The governors included Governor Gavin Newsom of California, Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma. In a public session, three of the governors discussed the importance of policy-making at the state level, noting that everything from zoning regulations to education policy can influence the health of the national and global economy.
"States are more nimble than the federal government. We can move faster," Governor Whitmer said, noting alongside the other governors that state policies can facilitate a culture of innovation.
Meanwhile, Governor Newson, a vocal critic of Trump, sat down with Ben Smith, Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Semafor, for a wide-ranging conversation on an array of core issues related to US politics.
Members of the US Congress who attended the Annual Meeting included Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Representative Sara Jacobs of California, among others. The lawmakers engaged in discussion on everything from bolstering the middle class to the future of US-China relations.
"I do think there are opportunities for us to create a framework to work with China," Coons said.
The future of business and growth
Chief executives from North American companies ranging from Nvidia to Salesforce featured prominently in Davos. Their participation reflected both the continued importance of North American businesses in the global economy and the scale of uncertainty confronting private sector leaders today.
Artificial intelligence and its impact on North American economies was a major topic of discussion, with leaders exploring how the rapidly advancing technology is reshaping productivity, competitiveness and labour markets.
"I'm much more confident that [AI] will in fact build on the rails of cloud and mobile, diffuse faster and bend the productivity curve and bring local surplus and economic growth all around the world," said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla and owner of social media platform X, stated that "AI will be smarter than all of humanity collectively" by 2030 and that he foresees building solar-powered AI data centres in space. Musk concluded his remarks on a positive note, stating that "it's better for your quality of life to be an optimist and wrong, than a pessimist and right".
While optimism around AI was widespread, leaders also addressed its disruptive effects. Joe Ucuzoglu, Global CEO of Deloitte, noted that "there will absolutely be labour market displacement," while stressing that, as with previous technological transitions, AI will also fuel "the creation of new jobs, many of which people could have never imagined in the moment."
The business leaders also explored the rise of stablecoins and other digital assets in addition to general digitalisation trends. Jeremy Allaire, Chair and CEO of Circle, described the expanding applications of stablecoins, saying that the "use case proliferation that we're seeing is extraordinary." Allaire noted that stablecoin use is increasing in cross-border trade settlements and e-commerce payments in particular.
Meanwhile, David McKay, President and CEO of RBC (Royal Bank of Canada), stated that the technical transformation is well underway within the financial sector. "Part of our digitisation is to digitise the physical services that we've been delivering for hundreds of years," he said.
Business leaders also examined the state of the US economy, identifying strong points and areas of potential growth as well as continued weaknesses and vulnerabilities.
"We have seen consistently that the economy is performing really well overall," said Charles Scharf, Chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo. "But at the same time, when you look at who's doing well and who's not doing well, it's very, very uneven."
Earlier this month, the World Economic Forum released its Chief Economists' Outlook , a triennial measure of the global economy based on a survey of cross-sector chief economists.
The report found that the outlook for growth in the US has improved. In the January edition, 19% of chief economists said they expect weak or very weak growth in the US, a sharp drop from the 52% who expected it in September 2025. Over two thirds (69%) said they expect moderate growth while 11% said they expect strong growth.
The report noted that a substantial share of US GDP gains in the past year are estimated to have come from AI-related capital spending, adding that AI-related and data centre investments are expected to rise over the next five years.
The business leaders examined the ongoing impacts of US tariffs, too. Many warned that policy uncertainty continues to hinder investment planning and urged the government to pursue growth-oriented policy frameworks.
"Before you spend hundreds of millions of dollars or billions of dollars to build a manufacturing plant, you really want to believe that the policy that is the anchor of that decision will be permanent in nature," said Ken Griffin, President and CEO of Citadel.
Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, added that in general "what governments should be focused on more is policy conducive to growth."
At the Annual Meeting, the World Economic Forum also launched, SmartStart , a new initiative to prepare 1 million young people for future-ready manufacturing and supply chain jobs by 2035. The programme, which will be introduced this year in select US regions, has brought together over 60 leaders from government, education and labour to create industry-ready curricula and expand access to credentials, training, internship and hiring pathways.
A broader set of voices
The Annual Meeting also brought together North American labour leaders, academics and cultural figures who contributed critical perspectives to economic and social debates.
Artist and musician Jon Batiste performed at the opening concert, while actor and Water.org co-founder Matt Damon spoke about the importance of expanding access to safe water and sanitation. A lack of access to water, Damon said, is a significant "loss to human potential."
Meanwhile, labour leaders included Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, and Elizabeth Shuler, President of the AFL-CIO, which represents nearly 15 million workers in the United States.
Speaking on a panel focused on technology and the future of work, Shuler stated that "we are seeing as a backdrop that the economy, in the US and around the world, isn't working for working people now. We have inequality at its highest levels; people are working harder and harder for less."
Moreover, academics explored topics ranging from artificial intelligence and the evolving role of the US dollar to political polarization and economic history.
One of the academics, AI expert and University of Montréal Professor Yoshua Bengio, joined the Forum for its "Ideas on the Move" video series.
Other academics that contributed to the Annual Meeting include Meghan O'Sullivan of Harvard University's Belfer Center, Peter Howitt of Brown University, Kristin J. Forbes of MIT, Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard University, Jeffry A. Frieden of Columbia University, and Niall Ferguson of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
