COVID, China, Climate: Online Davos Event Tackles Big Themes

File picture taken Jan.24, 2022 shows a police security guard on the roof of a hotel ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (AP)
File picture taken Jan.24, 2022 shows a police security guard on the roof of a hotel ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (AP)
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COVID, China, Climate: Online Davos Event Tackles Big Themes

File picture taken Jan.24, 2022 shows a police security guard on the roof of a hotel ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (AP)
File picture taken Jan.24, 2022 shows a police security guard on the roof of a hotel ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (AP)

The coronavirus pandemic has forced the World Economic Forum's annual meeting of world leaders, business executives and other heavyweights to go virtual for the second year in a row, but organizers still hope to catapult the world into thinking about the future with a scaled-down online version this week.

The gathering, an online alternative to the event typically held in the Swiss ski town of Davos, will feature speeches by the leaders of countries including China, India, Israel, Japan and Germany as well as panel discussions with business, government and philanthropy figures like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert who will talk about COVID-19, and Bill Gates and John Kerry, who are expected to discuss climate change.

Organizers still hope their plans for a larger in-person gathering can go ahead this summer. Until then, here are five things to watch at next week's online event:

China looms large

President Xi Jinping, who hasn't left China since the coronavirus emerged in early 2020, will be beamed in - just like last year - as perhaps the top headliner of the event.

He traditionally uses appearances at international gatherings like Davos to appeal for cooperation to fight climate change and the coronavirus and lambast what Beijing sees as US efforts to hold back China's rise and dominate global governance.

In a speech Monday, Xi could well again tout changes that Beijing says are opening the state-dominated economy and reject complaints that it wants to detach from international trade. His comments reflect the ruling Communist Party's desire for global influence to match China's status as the second-largest economy.

Keep an eye out for any mention of self-ruled Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory and has threatened to attack, and claims to the South and East China Seas or parts of the Himalayas, which have kindled tension with its neighbors.

Modi's mood

One of those neighbors with tense ties to China is India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi also takes the virtual floor Monday.

During the eight-year-old tenure of Modi, the star of the Hindu nationalist BJP party, India has seen an upswing in attacks against the Muslim minority. India's political parties are gearing up for state elections, just two months after Modi's government made a rare retreat on an agricultural reform bill that drew huge protests from farmers.

The campaign has drawn crowds of tens of thousands, even as the omicron variant, like elsewhere, has driven a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Hoping for a post-COVID world

It's impossible for the Davos crowd to overlook the health crisis that has upended its plans for the last two years.

The pandemic gets a top billing on Monday, with Fauci and the CEO of vaccine maker Moderna joining a panel discussion that addresses what's next for COVID-19, which has taken several big turns as the omicron variant sweeps the globe.

On Tuesday, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is certain to promote his often-repeated call for greater vaccine equity at a panel on the subject. Many developing countries remain far behind their rich counterparts when it comes to access to vaccines. WHO says greater vaccine equity can help prevent the emergence of worrisome, highly transmissible variants like omicron.

Tech on tap

Climate change and energy - along with a regional look at Latin America - get top billing Wednesday, with a speech by the Saudi energy minister and a look at how the world transitions from its dependence on fossil fuels. Kerry, the special envoy for climate under US President Joe Biden, joins Davos stalwart Gates - recent author of "How to Avert a Climate Disaster" - on a panel on climate innovation.

Technology, trade and the economy

True to its name, the economic forum never strays far from the world of business activity. The week rounds out with discussions on issues like capitalism for a sustainable future, trade at a time of strained global supply chains, and how government actions are needed to produce sustainable and equitable recovery after the pandemic.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen gets the last word Friday with a talk at the virtual forum, where she has an opportunity to promote President Joe Biden's plans to reengage globally to prevent new environmental catastrophes. Amid the pandemic and rapidly rising inflation, the former Federal Reserve chair also could touch on financial recovery efforts, the administration's $1 trillion infrastructure law and her support for a global corporate minimum tax agreed to by more than 130 countries.



Trump Downplays Possibility of Sending Ukraine Long-Range Weapons as It Struggles to Repel Russia

 In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a local resident walks along the street under an anti-drone net in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a local resident walks along the street under an anti-drone net in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
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Trump Downplays Possibility of Sending Ukraine Long-Range Weapons as It Struggles to Repel Russia

 In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a local resident walks along the street under an anti-drone net in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)
In this photo provided by Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade press service, a local resident walks along the street under an anti-drone net in Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (Andriy Andriyenko/Ukraine's 65th Mechanized Brigade via AP)

President Donald Trump on Tuesday downplayed the possibility of sending Ukraine long-range weapons as Kyiv awaits an injection of US weaponry that it hopes will help it beat back an intensifying Russian air offensive.

Trump offered a more cautious tone on what to expect after he threatened Russia a day earlier with steep tariffs if President Vladimir Putin doesn’t act within 50 days to end the three-year conflict. He also on Monday announced plans to bolster Kyiv's stockpile by selling American weapons to NATO allies who would in turn send arms to Ukraine.

Providing Ukraine with more long-range weaponry would give Kyiv the chance to strike further into Russian territory, a move that some in Ukraine and the US have said could help push Putin toward negotiations to end the fighting.

Asked if he intended to supply Ukraine with weapons that could reach deeper into Russian territory, Trump replied, "We're not looking to do that." He made the remarks to reporters before departing the White House for an energy investment event in Pittsburgh.

While Trump's threats of weapons, sanctions and tariffs mark the most substantive pressure he’s placed on Putin since returning to office nearly six months ago, some lawmakers said they remain concerned that the administration, with the 50-day deadline, is giving Putin time to grab even more Ukrainian territory.

Sens. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, and Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, said waiting 50 days before imposing sanctions on Russia would give Putin more time to gain an advantage in the war.

"The 50-day delay worries me that Putin would try to use the 50 days to win the war, or to be better positioned to negotiate a peace agreement after having murdered and potentially collected more ground," said Tillis, who recently announced he won’t run for reelection.

Tillis and Shaheen lead the Senate NATO Observer Group, which facilitates work between Congress and NATO, and met Tuesday with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Capitol Hill.

Trump himself scoffed at the idea that 50 days is giving Putin too much time. The president suggested he may act more quickly if he does not see signs that Putin is taking steps toward ending the conflict.

"I don’t think 50 days is very long and it could be shorter than that," he said.

Ahead of Trump's announcement that he would impose a 100% tariff on Russia’s trading partners if Putin doesn't negotiate an end to the war, bipartisan legislation proscribing even tougher sanctions on Moscow was gaining steam in the Senate.

The legislation, in part, calls for a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. It would have an enormous impact on the economies of Brazil, China and India, which account for the vast majority of Russia’s energy trade.

But Trump on Monday said "at a certain point it doesn’t matter" how high the tariff is set and that "100% is going to serve the same function." Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he was putting the legislation on hold following Trump's announcement.

Trump during his campaign described the conflict as a waste of US taxpayer money and vowed to quickly end it on his first day back in office. He deflected when asked by a reporter on Tuesday if his tougher tone on Putin suggests he's now on Ukraine’s side in the bloody conflict.

"I’m on nobody’s side," Trump said, adding this concern was for "humanity."

US officials say they are still sorting through Ukraine’s wish list of weaponry to determine what can be most quickly replaced after Trump announced an agreement for Europe to supply Ukraine with defensive munitions from existing stocks.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss arms transfers that have not yet been approved or completed, said Ukraine’s requests for military equipment are roughly the same as they have been since the start of Russia’s invasion. Those include air defenses like Patriot missiles and Advanced Precision Kill Weapon Systems, long-range missiles known as ATACMS and short- to medium-range ground-to-air missiles known as NASAMs, and assorted artillery, according to the officials.

Under the terms of the very rough agreement sketched out by Trump and Rutte on Monday, NATO members would ship billions of dollars of these weapons to Ukraine and then purchase replacements for them from the United States.

One official said some of the larger items, such as Patriots, could take up to five years to produce to deliver to the European donors, while smaller munitions like 155mm artillery shells can be produced on a much shorter timeline.

Trump has lately changed his once friendly tune toward Putin, whom he has long admired and whom he sided with publicly over his national security team during his first term when asked whether Russia had interfered in the 2016 election.

In recent weeks, Trump has chastised Putin for continuing his brutal assault on Ukrainian cities, even noting that the Russian leader "talks nice and then he bombs everybody."

Trump has continued to blame his White House predecessors for Putin's 2022 invasion on neighboring Ukraine — a conflict he says would have never happened if he were reelected in 2020.

"He’s fooled a lot of people," Trump said Monday at the White House. "He fooled Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden. He didn’t fool me."

In February, Trump expressed confidence that Putin "will keep his word" on any deal to end the war in Ukraine. But in an interview with the BBC published Tuesday, when asked whether he trusted Putin, Trump paused before answering.

"I trust almost nobody, to be honest with you," Trump said. "I’m disappointed in him, but I’m not done with him. But I’m disappointed in him."