Trump Is Being Taken Seriously at Davos, But Not Literally

The word in Davos: Ignore the tweets.

Executives gathered in the Swiss resort for the World Economic Forum this week kept repeating, like a soothing mantra, that President Trump is at heart a pragmatist who will avoid trade wars and regulations that make it harder to do business.

"What somebody's saying is not necessarily what they're going to do," said David Cote, chief executive officer of Honeywell International Inc. He should hope so: Honeywell is a global manufacturing giant with far more employees outside the United States than in, and it has made major bets on projects such as supplying parts for China's first commercial jet.

With stock markets nearing record highs and business-friendly figures like billionaire investor Wilbur Ross named to the cabinet, a conviction has set in that a man who came to power as an antiestablishment populist might in fact usher in a golden age for business.

"In the end, if he knows the facts, he'll respond according to the facts," said Hideaki Omiya, chairman of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

The stakes are high for companies that have prospered during the era of globalization, locating factories where labor is cheap and finding suppliers that can offer components at the most competitive prices. Trump has criticized the arrangements that make those integrated operations possible, calling the North American Free Trade Agreement a "disaster." During his campaign, Trump blasted the multilateral economic and political order, saying China, the most important U.S. trading partner, had been allowed "to rape our country."

Companies shouldn't sweat the president's "one-liners" and should focus on Trump's cabinet nominees, said Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. "I think that these very rational people will be very thoughtful when they go about the actual policy," he said.

Foreign companies say they are similarly relaxed. Nissan Motor Co.'s co-CEO Hiroto Saikawa said he doesn't believe Trump has any intention of severing trade ties that benefit the United States.

The health-care industry has a more delicate task than most in making its case to Trump. This month he accused drugmakers of "getting away with murder" through high prices, and broke with traditional Republican policy by suggesting the government could use its purchasing power to rein in costs. Drugmakers, though, argue they need to charge what they do to reward the risks they face and cover the cost of research.

One of them, Merck CEO Stefan Oschmann, said he was "convinced that the U.S. is a market that values innovation." Besides, he said, pharmaceutical companies employ thousands of highly paid researchers in cities like Boston and San Diego, "a huge share of the value chain of drug-making."

"This is all about jobs in the U.S.," said Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez. "That will be the true north, and everything else will follow that."