Davos 2026: Last Chance Saloon to Rescue the Old Order

As the world’s political and corporate elite gather once again in the Alpine resort of Davos, the World Economic Forum’s chosen theme, “A Spirit of Dialogue”, feels more aspirational than descriptive. The arrival of Donald Trump, whose second presidency has accelerated the breakdown of long standing global norms, has cast a long shadow over this year’s meeting.

Davos 2026

Trump is travelling with the largest US delegation ever seen at Davos, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and special envoy Steve Witkoff. It is a striking show of force at a forum founded to promote multilateral cooperation, consensus and predictability.

Just a year ago, days after his second inauguration, Trump addressed Davos remotely. In a combative speech, he threatened sweeping tariffs, demanded Nato allies raise defence spending and urged the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates immediately. That intervention set the tone for a turbulent year that has left the postwar rules based order looking increasingly fragile.

Today, that order is under pressure from multiple directions. Russia’s war in Ukraine continues, China’s economic and strategic weight grows, and Trump has openly challenged allies on everything from trade to territory. His recent threat to impose punitive tariffs on European partners unless they back his proposal to annex Greenland stunned EU leaders and forced emergency diplomatic talks ahead of Davos.

The geopolitical anxiety is reflected in the forum’s own research. Asked to identify the greatest risks over the next two years, more than 1,300 policymakers, executives and academics ranked geo economic confrontation first, followed closely by the prospect of outright war between states.

Recent weeks have only reinforced that sense of instability. Trump has overseen the seizure of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, suggested Ukraine bears responsibility for the lack of progress towards peace, and threatened military action against Iran if its crackdown on protests continues.

Yet even as multilateralism appears to be weakening, there are signs of resistance. Central bankers, normally cautious to the point of silence, issued an unprecedented joint letter this week defending the independence of Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. European leaders are arriving in Davos determined to make the case for free trade, transatlantic cooperation and sustained support for Ukraine, including Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, French president Emmanuel Macron and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, will also attend. This week, he warned that selective adherence to international law was setting a dangerous precedent and accelerating the erosion of the global order. While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza have raised acute legal and moral questions, he suggested it was US behaviour that has pushed the system closest to the brink.

Global military spending now stands at $2.7tn, rising at the fastest rate since the end of the cold war. Governments across democracies and autocracies alike are rearming in response to perceived threats from Russia, China and increasingly the United States itself.

Despite the projection of American power, diplomats privately believe it may provoke growing resistance. China and several developing economies continue to increase their share of global output, gradually shifting the balance away from Washington. Trump’s attempts to impose a pro Russian settlement on Ukraine have faltered amid European pushback, while his decision not to strike Iran followed heavy lobbying from Gulf states and doubts over the effectiveness of military action.

Not all cooperation has vanished. The UN is launching an independent scientific panel on artificial intelligence this year, aimed at counterbalancing the dominance of US tech firms whose leaders will be prominently visible along Davos’s Promenade.

More than half a century after its founding, the World Economic Forum still draws power and prestige. Around 60 heads of state or government, 55 finance ministers and more than 800 chief executives are expected. Corporate delegates pay about 27,000 Swiss francs per person, alongside hefty membership fees, some of which subsidise civil society participation.

The spectacle remains familiar. Attendees move between meetings in ski boots and fur hats, conduct thousands of private discussions and attend late night parties hosted by corporate sponsors. Among this year’s high profile executives are Nvidia president Jensen Huang, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and Anthropic founder Dario Amodei, all central figures in the artificial intelligence boom.

Environmental concerns continue to dog the event. Analysis by Greenpeace shows private jet flights linked to Davos more than tripled between 2023 and 2025, highlighting the climate cost of the annual gathering.

WEF president Børge Brende has argued that Trump’s deal making instincts make dialogue unavoidable, while conceding the meeting is taking place against the most complex geopolitical backdrop in the forum’s history. Critics remain unconvinced. Winnie Byanyima of UNAids says Trump embodies a worldview fundamentally at odds with a predictable, rules based system, describing his approach as one where power alone determines outcomes.

This is also the first Davos without its founder, Klaus Schwab, who stepped back last year following allegations of misconduct that were later dismissed as minor irregularities. Though absent, Schwab is releasing a new book timed with the meeting, underlining his continued interest in the forum’s legacy.

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Some former insiders argue that Davos has lost its relevance. Danny Sriskandarajah of the New Economics Foundation calls it an unaccountable relic of an era when multilateralism still functioned. Others, like One campaign co founder Jamie Drummond, believe it remains a fading but still useful space to influence the powerful, even if its heyday has passed.

Beyond the politics, Davos itself is a monument to reinvention. Once a Roman outpost, later a tuberculosis health resort immortalised by Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, it became a ski destination and then, in 1971, the unlikely home of the World Economic Forum. Each transformation reflected broader global shifts.

That history of adaptation may soon be tested again. Climate change is accelerating the melting of Swiss glaciers, tourism models are under pressure, and the image of Davos is increasingly tied to a forum struggling to reconcile lofty ideals with geopolitical reality.

Whether Davos 2026 proves to be a last chance to steady the old world order, or simply another marker of its decline, will depend less on the speeches in conference halls than on whether genuine dialogue can still survive in a world drifting towards confrontation.