World Headlines; President Trump to Attend Meeting of Global Elite; 2020 SAG Awards
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States. You're watching "CNN Newsroom." I'm Rosemary Church. Let's check the headlines for you. World leaders are calling for sanctions on anyone who violates any ceasefire in war-torn Libya. They just wrapped up a Libya peace summit in Berlin where they also pledged to respect an arms embargo and promised not to interfere in the country's ongoing civil war. The New York Times editorial board has endorsed not one, but two candidates who it says should be the U.S. Democratic presidential nominee. It has chosen senators Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar. The paper made the announcement in a televised special, shedding light on the process that had been kept private for 160 years. U.S. President Donald trump has until noon to file a trial brief with the Senate. In a pre-trial filing, his defense team argued he cannot be impeached because his actions in Ukraine were not criminal offenses. The reply from the House is due 24 hours later. The impeachment trial begins Tuesday. Well, right now, the global elite gathering in a Swiss resort to discuss the very sources that are going to shape our lives in the months ahead, and I'm talking, of course, about the World Economic Forum, the annual summit that brings together political, business and finance leaders from all around the world. But this year, unlike last year, one among them is likely to steal more than his fair share of the limelight. Nina dos Santos explains.</s>NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. presidents are rare sightings in Davos even among the elite crowd the event draws. But when Donald Trump turns up as he did two years ago, he's impossible to miss.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a tremendous crowd and a crowd like they've never had before.</s>DOS SANTOS (voice-over): The World Economic Forum with its globalist agenda is thousands of miles away from the president's populist base.</s>TRUMP: We are going to drain the swamp.</s>DOS SANTOS (voice-over): Both geographically and politically. But Davos is first and foremost a business gathering and Donald Trump is key to attract outside investment.</s>TRUMP: I'm going to be going to Davos. I'll be meeting the biggest business leaders in the world, getting them to come here.</s>DOS SANTOS (voice-over): With the ink now dry on the trade truce with China, a victory lap is also the alpine air.</s>GREG SWENSON, SPOKESPERSON, REPUBLICANS OVERSEAS: What better place to talk about global trade and global economics than Davos?</s>DOS SANTOS (voice-over): This year's summit focuses on how to create a sustainable and cohesive world. Among the attendees, Greta Thunberg, who has clashed with President Trump on climate change, and Angela Merkel, berated by him for spending too little on defense and too much on Russian gas. After the U.S. killed Tehran's top general, Iran's delegation has decided to pull out.</s>SWENSON: If everybody else wants to talk about climate change or Iran, that's where he can get into some spats. I think we have to anticipate there could be some cringe worthy moments. But we hope that the president gets all of his tweets done before the doors of Air Force One open on the tarmac.</s>DOS SANTOS (voice-over): The trip will be the president's first foreign event in what is set to be a politically-charged year on the home front. It coincides with his impeachment trial in the Senate and it comes two weeks before the Iowa caucuses, kicking off the primary season to determine his likely Democratic opponent. As such, it is little wonder that a survey commissioned to head (ph) Davos rated U.S. politics as one of the global business community's biggest concerns. Trump first tracks the Davos in 2018, only the second sitting president to attend after Bill Clinton.</s>BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much.</s>DOS SANTOS (voice-over): He may not yet have scored a standing ovation, but this president's actions continue to keep Davos's decision makers on the edge of their seats. Nina dos Santos, CNN, Davos.</s>CHURCH: And we are joined now by John Defterios live from Davos in Switzerland. It is good to see you again, John. So, how is President Trump likely to be received when he takes to the world stage and what all is expected to be achieved at this year's World Economic Forum?</s>JOHN DEFTERIOS, CNN EMERGING MARKETS EDITOR: Well, it's part of the rub here against Donald Trump, Rosemary, that it's his agenda that dominates the global narrative at least at the start of WEF 2020. You can see his game plan taking shape here. He'll drive home his point that he got the first stage of the U.S./China trade dispute put to bed here. It doesn't seem to be very robust but he will push it anyway, the restructuring of the NAFTA agreement, the U.S. job creation, global growth better because the U.S. remains growing here.</s>DEFTERIOS: And the bold move for his entry into Iran and the killing of the Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, it was bold, it was audacious. But there is going to be a lot of Middle East players here asking, is the region safer as a result? I would imagine the Gulf allies of the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, for example, Kuwait, wouldn't agree so -- U.S. troops in Iraq, we'll hear from the Iraqi president later in the week here at Davos. And also, this is a critical window for Europe, if you will, because of the issue of climate change and the environment. Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, stand up against Donald Trump. Last time, they basically let him have the center stage and then he controlled the overall debate going forward. Nobody challenged him on climate change. Will they have a stronger backbone at WEF 2020? This is something we need to see because of the global outcry against the warming of the climate and perhaps they're well behind the curve to do anything about it.</s>CHURCH: It will be interesting to see how world leaders respond to President Trump this year, of course. And the other concern, he has been denying the existence of climate change for some time. This is despite the scientific evidence that's out there for all to see. How is he likely to deal with -- a lot of criticism is coming from that. Of course, Greta Thunberg will be there likely on the stage with him. Are they likely to somehow cross paths, do you think?</s>DEFTERIOS: I think they'll cross paths but it's not by accident at the World Economic Forum on its 50th anniversary decided to have this juxtaposition. Donald Trump at local time 11:30 a.m. tomorrow morning will take the stage. Two hours later, Greta will do the same. She's going to talk about trying to avoid an environmental apocalypse. She hasn't been shy, whether it's within United Nations or other venues around the world, nor has the president in attacking her. So this will actually move forward the environmental debate. And coming into this meeting, we've seen the European Union announced a $1 trillion fund to move to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. You would think that the president would kind of wake up to the call here and do something about it. Germany is facing away from coal. But I think the broader context -- this is the 50th anniversary of the World Economic Forum, the 30th, and I remember my first one was right after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The World Economic Forum had this role of keeping Europe together in terms of the debate, keeping humpty dumpty together, embracing globalization. They'll opening up China and trying to foster the debate of the environment. Professor Schwab of the World Economic Forum took some criticism because he didn't challenge Donald Trump last year, just called him a strong leader. Will that change this year? I would think so, Rosemary.</s>CHURCH: We'll be watching very closely, as well you. John Defterios is joining us from Davos. Many thanks. We will take a short break here. Still to come, Puerto Rico launches an investigation demanding to know why a warehouse full of emergency food and water never made it to the victims of Hurricane Maria. We'll take a closer look. That's next.