Much of the global reaction to US President Donald Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday focused on his plans for Greenland amid threats to gain Danish independence – but a few other notable moments may have been overlooked.
The speech lasted more than an hour and touched on tariffs, the US central bank and prescription drug prices, among other topics.
There was also talk of new “weapons of war”, and a few other details.
Here are some key takeaways from Trump’s speech beyond what he shared in Greenland and his comments about Canada.
Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve
Trump said he plans to announce a new chairman of the US Federal Reserve soon.
Central banks like the US Fed and the Bank of Canada are responsible for keeping the economy stable by adjusting interest rates to maintain price stability while also encouraging growth.
They reach these decisions independently, based on expert analysis and data, while strongly resisting outside influence from government leaders and agendas.
“I’m going to announce a new chairman of the Fed in the not-too-distant future. I think he’s going to do a great job. Look, I’ve given you something — him. I’ve given you that,” Trump said in Davos.
“So there is something. You get something. But the most respected person, everyone is respected. Everyone is nice. Everyone I interviewed is nice. Everyone can do, I think it’s a great job. The problem is they change when they get a job, they do it.”
He continued: “You know, they say everything I want to hear, then they get a job, and they are imprisoned for six years. I call them: ‘Sir, we better not talk about this.'”
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“It’s amazing how people change when they have a job. It’s terrible. Disloyalty. But they have to do what they think is right. We have a terrible chairman right now, Jerome ‘Too late’ Powell. He’s always too late. And, too late on interest rates, except before the election. “He was good for the other side,” Trump said.
The future of drug prices
In his speech, Trump said drug prices would drop worldwide, then said he was using the tax to pressure French President Emmanuel Macron to raise certain prices in France.
This comes after the White House announced in December 2025 that nine major pharmaceutical companies will lower drug prices for the government’s Medicaid program and payers in Trump’s latest bid to unify costs in the US and other rich countries.
“The price of drugs is going to go down a lot in every country, and I appreciate what they’re doing, but they did it. In fairness, without the tax, I wouldn’t have been able to do it,” Trump said.
“Under my favorite country’s drug pricing policy, prescription drug costs are down 90 percent, depending on how transparent it is.”
Trump’s “popular national policy” aims to lower the prices of prescription drugs in the US to the same levels as those in other countries, which may pay less for the same products.
Trump continued:
“I said, ‘Emmanuel [Macron, president of France]you’re going to have to raise the price of that pill to $20, maybe $30.’ Think about that. That means doubling. Doubling of prescriptions may be tripled, may be quadrupled. It’s not easy,” said Trump.
“‘No, no, no,’ he said. ‘Here’s the thing, Emmanuel. The answer is you will. You will quickly. And if you don’t, I’m putting a 25 percent tax on everything you sell in the United States.’
At one point in his speech, Trump mentioned America’s new “weapons of war,” without specifying.
“Now our country and the whole world are facing greater dangers than before, because of missiles, because of nuclear weapons, because of weapons of war that I can’t even talk about,” said Trump.
“Two weeks ago, they saw weapons that no one had heard of, they couldn’t shoot at us, they said what happened, everything was scattered.”
It is not clear what instance Trump was referring to where these “weapons” were used, but the timeline of “two weeks ago” is close to the time of the US strikes in Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan 3rd.
Earlier this month, CNN reported, citing multiple sources, on the Pentagon’s purchase of a tool believed to be linked to the “Havana syndrome” cases that have attacked US and Canadian diplomats in Cuba, since 2016.
Global News did not independently confirm CNN’s reporting, and Trump did not provide further details on what type of weapons he was talking about in his speech.
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