Donald Trump dominating Davos agenda, says S4 Capital's Martin Sorrell

Donald Trump, set to take oath as the 47th US President later in the day, is dominating the agenda at the World Economic Forum (WEF), said Martin Sorrell, executive chairman, S4 Capital, a digital advertising and marketing services company.

Speaking to Moneycontrol in Davos ahead of Trump’s inauguration, Sorrell said, “He (Trump) will be delighted to know that everybody is talking about him. He does dominate the agenda."

Moneycontrol on January 20 reported that Trump is likely to overshadow the usual discussions around trade, currency, climate and inclusivity this year a Davos.

Trump, who has attended Davos twice previously, will join this year’s WEF virtually on January 23.

"Davos this year has got the counter pull of the (Trump) inauguration,” Sorrell said when asked if the WEF would be relevant in the Trump era.

"I think the attendance this year is pretty strong. I'm talking to people on the airlines, for example, the inbound (traffic) is as strong as it was pre-Covid. So it has picked up. But the conference has lost its importance, in terms of the sessions. It's become a sort of more and more expensive networking event but it is a super-efficient way of seeing a lot of people very quickly in a short period of time," he said.

Sorrell also talked about to expect in the Trump world.

"I think growth is going to be more tempered. I think inflation is stickier. This time last year we thought interest rates were going to come down. That was a projection. They didn't come down as much as people thought. People are talking about hikes or the possibility of hikes in the US and the 10-year treasury is close to 5 percent. So interest rates are going to be higher," he said.

In such a scenario, two things have become important and the first is to pick geographies such as India for growth, Sorrell said. "The second is you have to use in parts of the world where growth is not as great like Europe that is under pressure, UK is under pressure, France, Germany. You have to use AI (artificial intelligence), quantum computing, the metaverse, blockchain to improve efficiency," he said.

These are the two things that are top of the agenda for people trying to run many global companies, he added.

The S4 Capital chairman also pointed out to the three big geopolitically issues facing the world and Trump. "I think that's going to bifurcate still further with Trump," he said of the US-China relationships.

"The second is Russia and Ukraine. If there is an agreement over Ukraine, will Russia check or will Russia go further in time?"

The third thing is Iran. "I think the Trump administration will be good news for the Middle East. We had good news over the weekend. As a Jew, I was delighted to see the release of some hostages. I want the rest to come home as rapidly as possible. A ceasefire at least temporarily in Gaza is also a good thing."

The Trump administration and its relationship with Saudi and the Middle East generally, with Qatar and elsewhere, bodes better for region, he said. “Maybe the Saudis will normalise relationships with Israel. Maybe we'll have some form of political resolution of the problems around Palestine and the West Bank," he added.