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The gulf is as wide as the Atlantic. And nowhere was this more evident than when Donald Trump delivered his video speech to the self-proclaimed global elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
While Donald’s return has rekindled “animal spirits” in corporate America (yesterday he promised the biggest tax cut in American history), pessimism has descended across Europe.
Political turmoil reigns in France and Germany, while the Labor government has slammed the brakes on the UK economy with £40bn of tax rises.
The mood is “not good” in European boardrooms, according to Goldman Sachs’ Richard Gnodde, chief executive of the London-based US investment bank’s international division, who believes executives on this side of the Atlantic will ask governments that are more pro-growth.
“There is a growing sense of frustration and I wouldn’t be surprised if we see that community becoming much more assertive,” he told Bloomberg TV in Davos.
‘Assertive with the regulatory framework, assertive with Brussels, in their own national capitals, because I think everyone knows what the program should be. I think people are done talking.
Rise and fall: As President Trump (pictured) promised the biggest tax cut in US history, pessimism has spread across Europe.
To make matters worse, Gnodde noted, “you can see what’s happening in the United States,” where Trump yesterday promised to reduce the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 15 percent for companies that make goods in the United States.
“My message to all companies in the world is very simple: come make your product in America and we will apply one of the lowest taxes of any nation in the world,” Trump said.
He lamented high tax rates in Europe and again threatened punishing tariffs. “The EU treats us very, very unfairly, very badly,” he said.
The audience listened with a mixture of fear and bewilderment. The President was received with courteous applause as he imparted his wisdom from four giant screens distributed throughout the forum’s conference hall.
But there was also laughter as he embarked on his usual combination of digressions, boasts and threats.
This month’s International Monetary Fund forecasts underscore the divide between Trump’s America and Europe.
While the US economy is expected to grow 2.7 per cent this year, the UK is on track to grow just 1.6 per cent. Germany is expected to achieve growth of just 0.3 percent after two years of decline.

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, said it was “not pessimistic” to say Europe was facing an “existential crisis.”
Asked if Trump’s election represented a wake-up call for Europe, he admitted: “I respectfully believe that it is.”
UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, who is in Davos with Chancellor Rachel Reeves, praised Trump’s ambition and admitted Britain must do more to get things done.
He stopped short of saying the UK should become more like Trump, a figure hated by many in the Labor Party. But he told reporters that ministers must make “difficult decisions to make things work.”
“The point here is scale, whatever you think of the inaugural address, the ambition there, the galvanizing effect it’s had,” Reynolds said.
The comments are in line with Reynolds and Reeves’ attempt to show they are committed to growth above all, voicing support for a third runway at Heathrow and ousting the head of the competition regulator.

Davos: While the US economy is expected to grow 2.7% this year, the UK is on track to grow just 1.6%. Germany is expected to achieve growth of just 0.3%.
Reynolds added: ‘There are big problems with the time it takes to build infrastructure in the UK. Delays in getting things done: that adds costs, that adds uncertainty.
‘I think there is a test in most countries in the Western world: people ask: “Can the government deliver for me? Can you address the problems?
‘And I can see that as part of the speech he was making. And I also detected a very optimistic message in a certain sense. It would be a mistake to say we should be more like Trump.
“But we have to show people that government can make a positive difference in their lives by getting homes built.”
Judging by the collapse in confidence among investors, businesses and households since Reeves’ £40bn tax raid, that may take some time, particularly given what’s on offer in Trump’s America .
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