Carlos Barria/Reuters
President Donald Trump and members of his administration met with the heads of 15 European companies during his trip to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
- President Donald Trump and members of his administration had dinner with the heads of 15 European companies during his trip to the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
- They focused on deregulation policies in a roundtable modeled after CEO meetings Trump had in his first few months of office.
- Trump's chief economic adviser Gary Cohn said the main purpose of the dinner is to encourage doing business in the US.
President Donald Trump arrived at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday to pitch to the global elite reasons America is great again.
He's the first US president in 20 years to attend the event.
Ahead of his speech on Friday, Trump had dinner with 15 heads of European companies across various industries, including the CEOs of Adidas, Deloitte, and Nestlé.
The dinner was modeled on the CEO roundtables of his first few months in office, which were later disbanded due to controversial remarks the president made about a violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Trump was joined by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielson, national security adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster, and National Economic Council director Gary Cohn.
Of the dinner's guests, Cohn told reporters in Davos, "The attendees run companies that have sizeable footprints in the United States. They have invested in our economy. We want them to continue to do so and encourage others to join them."
Cohn explained that Trump planned on using the dinner to explain that the US has a reinvigorated business environment due to his administration's new tax and deregulation policies.