Held under the banner of “A Spirit of Dialogue”, this year’s World Economic Forum unfolded amid open geopolitical rupture, economic coercion and a visible collapse of faith in the post-war international order. With Portland CEO Simon Whitehead and Senior Partner Luke Baker on the ground throughout the week, they observed a forum grappling with the shifting power dynamics in a fractured, multi-polar world.
This was also the first Davos without its founder, Klaus Schwab. His absence was more than symbolic, as the cooperative ethos he championed felt increasingly out of step with a new agenda dominated by hard power, national interests, and corporate survivalism.
Why Davos 2026 mattered
In advance of the Forum, expectations were already set for a high-stakes confrontation. The presence of US President Donald Trump, arriving with the largest American delegation in the Forum’s history, set the tone well before he took the stage. His administration’s threats of punitive tariffs against European allies over their refusal to facilitate the annexation of Greenland overshadowed much of the week. So, too, did Trump’s broader message that US security guarantees, market access, and diplomatic goodwill are now conditional and negotiable.
While the Forum officially promoted dialogue, the reality was closer to geo-economic confrontation. Leaders spoke openly about the unravelling of the post-WWII rules-based order, with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stressing: “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition”. This sense of rupture became even more pronounced yesterday with the announcement of Trump’s Board of Peace initiative, which many view as a potential rival to the United Nations without the same grounding in international law.
What was (and wasn’t) on the agenda
- Above all, Davos was consumed by the breakdown of the transatlantic relationship. Trump spent much of the week threatening tariffs on European nations should they not concede his ambitions for the U.S. to control Greenland. European leaders, in turn, are confronting the reality that U.S. protection or cooperation can no longer be relied upon, and that it must not hesitate to deploy tools should it need to protect its interests. In fact, the summit concluded with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz calling for European unity and increased defence spending.
- Alongside this geopolitical rupture, a new economic logic dominated conversations. Artificial intelligence, crypto, and defence emerged as Davos’s new organising principles, described by several delegates as the Forum’s new “holy trinity.” These themes displaced traditional conversations on climate change, ESG, and inclusive growth, which once defined Davos’s moral centre but now seem to signify relics of an outdated world order.
- The sidelining of climate and social agendas was notable with AI Houses, crypto lounges, and national power hubs drawing sizeable crowds. Meanwhile, historically popular sessions on gender equity, global health, and development played to half-empty rooms. This marked a shift from an agenda focused on restraining capitalism with social purpose, toward a model driven by hard power, scale, and deregulation
Major developments
Geopolitical signals
Davos 2026 was defined by open geopolitical confrontation rather than managed diplomacy. President Trump’s escalating demands over Greenland triggered a Danish boycott of the Forum and hardened European rhetoric, with leaders objecting to US coercion. France’s request for a NATO military exercise in Greenland marked a shift from diplomatic resistance to strategic signalling, demonstrating one of the most serious tests of the alliance since NATO’s inception. In his closing-day address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took aim at what he described as Europe’s passivity in the face of the Greenland crisis.
The launch of Trump’s Board of Peace on the sidelines of the Forum yesterday crystallised this shift. Framed as a pragmatic peace-building mechanism, the initiative was widely interpreted as a challenge to UN-led multilateralism. With participation skewed toward transactional allies and notable absences among Western partners, the Board symbolised a broader move away from shared rules toward power-centred alignment.
Global risks
Another notable theme was the growing recognition among world leaders that many global risks have already materialised. Economic coercion, through tariffs and sanctions, has become a routine tool of foreign relations, raising the likelihood of retaliation and escalation. Delegates spoke less about prevention and more about resilience in a world where shocks are increasingly simultaneous and globally felt.
Alongside geopolitical risk sat a deep unease about financial fragility. Leaders discussed the prevalence of record equity markets, driven largely by AI optimism, amidst widespread concern that deregulation and speculative excess are recreating the conditions for a sharp correction. Comparisons to 2008 surfaced frequently, with several leaders warning that economic stability is resting on narrower and more volatile foundations.
Inequality as a security threat
Away from the noise, rising inequality was discussed as a political and security threat. This year’s Oxfam report highlighted how global billionaire wealth has reached a record $18.3 trillion, with the world’s top 12 billionaires now owning more wealth than the poorest half of humanity combined. Crucially, inequality was discussed less as a social failure and more as a political and security threat.
Delegates warned of a growing “political deficit,” where ultra-wealthy individuals exert influence rivalling nation-states, eroding democratic legitimacy and fuelling public anger. An open letter from nearly 400 millionaires called for higher taxes and underscored a growing recognition that extreme concentration of wealth is unsustainable in both economic and political terms.
Commitments and positioning
Despite the turbulence, Davos remained a venue for deal-making, but commitments were less about long-term global transformation and more about hedging against instability. The UK secured £1.5bn in investment and tried to position itself as a stable, rules-based alternative to US unpredictability, a message that resonated with investors prioritising certainty over scale. Similarly, China pursued a quieter but strategic presence, using invitation-only CEO engagements to present itself as a dependable economic partner amid transatlantic discord.
Portland’s take
“The deepening transatlantic fracture will be a central theme of 2026, one that risks destabilising and even reshaping NATO, while accelerating Europe’s pursuit of strategic autonomy. At the same time, power is shifting away from traditional institutions like the United Nations and towards informal coalitions and bilateral bargaining. Attention is always being drawn away from conflicts that desperately need resolution, such as Sudan and Yemen, and global issues like the energy transition and climate change. Financial vulnerability is also increasing, with AI drawing vast investment even as job security wanes and high asset prices leave investors worried that a bubble may soon burst, leading to a darker economic outlook.”
– Luke Baker, Senior Partner, Media
Standout quotes
- “We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn’t mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.” – Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
- “5 years from now, AI will be smarter than all of humanity collectively.” – Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla
- “Extreme wealth is polluting politics and hollowing out democracy.” – Agnes Callamard, Secretary General, Amnesty International
Further reading
- The Guardian: The ‘rules-based order’ Davos craves has bigger problems than Trump: it represents a world that no longer exists
- Semafor: Europe relieved, but still on edge, after Trump’s Davos speech
- Reuters: Trump launches Board of Peace that some fear rivals UN
- Sky News: The reality behind Trump’s Greenland ‘deal’
- The Conversation: Mark Carney’s Davos Speech marks a major departure from Canada’s usual approach to the U.S.
