Davos 2025: Trump calls for lower oil prices, lower taxes and huge defence spending in speech

US President says he wants to meet Vladimir Putin soon to end war with Ukraine, in which he claims far more people have died than has been reported

Donald Trump called for lower global oil prices, lower taxes and massive defence spending by Nato members in a rapid-fire address to the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday.

The US President called on Opec to cut prices to alleviate the cost of living, in a speech that touched on subjects from the war in Ukraine to gender pronouns and diversity policies. He pledged to cull regulations and inefficiencies at home and bring peace to conflict zones from Ukraine to the Middle East.

Mr Trump appeared on a live stream from Washington four days after his inauguration and spoke to a packed audience of world leaders and business executives. He delivered an unbroken monologue, barely pausing for breath, before taking questions from American executives including Blackstone boss Stephen Schwarzman and Bank of America chief executive Brian Moynihan.

Watch: The National sums up Davos with analysis on Trump speech

The National sums up Davos with analysis on Trump speech

06:08

Global oil prices

"I'm also going to ask Saudi Arabia and Opec to bring down the cost of oil. You got to bring it down," Mr Trump said. "Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't do before the election. That didn't show a lot of love by them not doing it.

"I was a little surprised by that – if the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately. Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue. You got to bring down the oil price."

Nato spending

Mr Trump also called on Nato allies to increase defence spending from 2 per cent to 5 per cent of GDP, which would be unaffordable for every member.

"We're moving quickly to bring back strength and peace and stability abroad. I'm also going to ask all Nato nations to increase defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP, which is what it should have been years ago," he added, claiming that "millions" had died on the battlefields of Ukraine, which is far beyond the official death toll.

Gaza ceasefire

Speaking about the Gaza ceasefire, he said: "Before even taking office, my team negotiated a ceasefire agreement in the Middle East, which wouldn't have happened without us, as I think most of the people in the room know.

"Earlier this week, the hostages began to return to their families. They are returning, and it's a beautiful sight, and they'll be coming in more and more."

Biden's Green Deal

"The Green New Deal was a total disgrace, it was produced by average students," he said of former president Joe Biden's major stimulus package. "Remember the world was going to end in 12 years? When the 12 years have come and gone.

"These people really scared the Democrats, you can't say [they scared] the Republicans, but it's been a tremendous waste of money. During my four years we had the cleanest air, the cleanest water, the most productive economy in the history of our country."

Russia and Ukraine

"I really would like to meet with Mr Putin soon and get that war ended. Millions of lives are being wasted. Beautiful young people are being wasted," Mr Trump said.

"I've seen pictures of what's taking place and it's carnage. So many young people being killed in this war, and that's not including people being killed as cities are knocked down.

"Ukraine is ready to make a deal ... if I were president, it would never have started. This is a war that should have never ever been started ... I think the thing that you'll see about Ukraine is that far, far more people have died than is being reported."

Ties with China

"We're going to have a very good relationship. All we want is fairness," he added. "We just want a level playing field. We don't want to take advantage. We've been having massive deficits with China.

"Biden allowed it to get out of hand. His $1.1 trillion deficit is ridiculous, and it's just an unfair relationship. And we have to make it just fair. But I like President Xi [Jinping] very much. I've always liked him. We always had a very good relationship. It was very strained with Covid coming out of Wuhan."

Nuclear disarmament

"We'd like to see denuclearisation," Mr Trump said. "In fact, with President Putin prior to an election result, which was frankly ridiculous, we were talking about denuclearisation of our two countries, and China would have come along."

Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, said the heavily pro-business crowd wished Mr Trump well in his mission to create economic growth.

"We wish you all the best as you take on your critical work ahead," he added. "The global challenges we face today are monumental. The importance of American leadership – and your personal leadership in this regard, is fundamental."