'Shot in the arm' for business: European CEOs react to Trump 2.0
European business leaders have weighed in Donald Trump's first day in office, with some optimistic about the incoming administration and others striking a more cautious tone.
On his first day in office, the president signed a flurry of executive orders, which included withdrawing America from the WHO and the Paris Agreement — the U.N.'s landmark deal aimed at curbing climate change — as well as scaling back government diversity and inclusion programs and pardoning 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters.
Here are some of the thoughts European CEOs shared with CNBC on Monday at the World Economic Forum's flagship event in Davos, Switzerland.
"I think Trump gives America a really good chance to revive its animal spirit. There will be less regulation, there will be more energy supply, there will be more of a sense of markets functioning and [less] regulation, and I think Trump is a shot in the arm for business. But I think business has to work its way through how it balances other stakeholders, employees and others on issues like DEI, sustainability [and so on]," he said.
On Trump's inauguration: "I think it's also a wake-up call for Europe. I think that also Europe needs to really focus on the economy and on growth."
"We need to become more competitive. We need to have more labor productivity. We need to invest more in AI, we need to invest in the Capital Markets Union to, let's say, improve the flow of the capital in Europe. So I think many things that he [Trump] says, to some extent, also apply to Europe, and the focus of Europe should be on the competitiveness of this region, and that will help the entire society here as well," he added.
Asked if the "merit-based system" touted by Trump, and his mission to roll-back DEI initiatives, were a