Davos 2025: Trade, tariffs, AI and UN chief Guterres dominate World Economic Forum agenda

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during the 55th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22, 2025. (Laurent Gillieron / Keystone via AP)

DAVOS, Switzlerand — UN Secretary-General António Guterres ratcheted up his warning about climate change and said the world’s thirst for fossil fuels is a “Frankenstein monster” that spares no one, while calling for greater attention to risks posed by artificial intelligence if its ascent goes ungoverned — even as some leaders played up its promise.

The United Nations' chief headlined a flurry of activities and talk sessions on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, where shifts underway in Washington during U.S. President Donald Trump’s first week back in office also featured heavily in the scheduled events and side chats of government officials, academics and business executives.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy combed the corridors, meeting with leaders such as Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Vietnamese President Luong Cuong, as well as German opposition leader and would-be chancellor Friedrich Merz in an effort to stir up support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

Here are some highlights from Wednesday’s session:

UN chief issues warning about Big Oil ...

With energy and tech industry executives on hand, Guterres returned to one of his most frequent appeals: for the world to do more to fight global warming.

Trump’s promises to “ drill, baby, drill ” and an array of worries about economic growth in some big but moribund economies in Europe and beyond have rattled public and private commitments to reduce carbon emissions.

Guterres bemoaned how 2024 was the hottest year on record, and warned of rising sea levels that could overwhelm ports that ship oil in and out.

“And rising temperatures, which are, overwhelmingly, caused by burning fossil fuels,” he said. “Our fossil fuel addiction is a Frankenstein monster, sparing nothing and no one. All around us, we see clear signs that the monster has become master.”

Companies that have recently backtracked on their climate commitments are “on the wrong side of history,” he added.

... and “ungoverned” AI

The UN chief lauded the promise of artificial intelligence, saying it could revolutionize learning, help improve health care and support farmers with tools that boost productivity.

“But with this promise comes profound risk, especially if AI is left ungoverned,” he said. warning that it could be used “as a tool of deception,” erode trust in institutions, disrupt labour markets and affect the conduct of war.

Trump on Tuesday announced a joint U.S. venture that plans to invest up to US$500 billion for infrastructure linked to AI though a new partnership formed by Oracle, SoftBank and OpenAI.

The Stargate project’s goal is to build out data centres and the electricity generation needed by voracious power needs of fast-evolving AI in Texas, the White House said.

Julie Sweet, chief executive officer of Accenture, the multinational information technology and consulting firm, hailed the Stargate investment as an “absolute validation that AI is important for companies and countries.”

She said the United States appeared set to maintain its approach toward AI of innovation first, then applying “appropriate guardrails” — unlike other places that put the guardrails first.

“AI will not be successful if people don’t trust it,” Sweet told The Associated Press. “So I’m not worried about it (being) too deregulated because the interests of making sure AI is trusted are aligned across all groups.”

Malaysian PM Anwar sees challenge, promise with AI

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his country will have to “navigate” AI but will push it “on a faster pace, partly because of my age: we don’t have time to wait.”

Anwar was speaking in Davos after the Southeast Asian nation and its neighbour Singapore struck a deal to create a special economic zone that would ramp up job creation and lure investment.

“AI is, of course, a new challenge. We don’t have the expertise (or) knowhow,” he said. “But AI means changing the education system, health services, blockchain, so it will have to come about.”

From AI to social media: Spain’s Sánchez wants EU to act

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for the EU to help “make social media great again” by taking tough regulatory measures against the technology platforms he described as being run by tycoons who flaunt the law.

“The tech billionaires want to overthrow democracy. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the truth of the terrible threat we face,” Sánchez said, citing the spread of misinformation that has fueled anti-liberal political movements. “The technology that was intended to free us has become the tool of our own oppression.”

The centre-left Socialist said social media were initially “supposed” to foster unity and democracy, but instead “have brought division, lies and a reactionary agenda” and now have “begun to compete unfairly with the strategic sectors of our economies, such as banking, retail and media outlets.

“And they have ended up in the hands of a reduced group of men — by the way, only men — whose combined (net) worth triples the entire European Union’s budget,” he added.

Sánchez said he would ask the EU to enact policies to end what he called anonymity of social media users, use existing legislation to “force open the black box of social media algorithms,” as well as hold the owners of social media platforms “personally accountable” for any wrongs brought by their sites.

Can Britain avert Trump tariffs? U.K.’s Treasury chief hopes so

Much buzz has been about where Trump’s much-trumpeted tariffs — such as goods from rival China and even allies Canada and Mexico — will land.

Britain’s new Treasury chief, Rachel Reeves, noted Trump is mulling tariffs on countries that are running big trade surpluses with the United States, which is not the case with the U.K.

“So the problem that President Trump is trying to address is not addressed through tariffs on the U.K.,” Reeves said.

“There are a million Brits working for American firms and there are a million Americans working for British firms,” she told reporters. “Our economies are closely intertwined and I don’t believe that tariffs between our countries would be in either of our interests.”

Associated Press Writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

Jamey Keaten, The Associated Press