World Economy Summit

Welcome to Day 1 of Semafor’s World Economy Summit — the first major gathering of business and political leaders since the new US administration took office, which will feature on-the-record discussions with nearly 200 CEOs in Washington, DC.

The past decade was an exercise in sameness for corporate executives and investors. Everything went up, floating on a tide of free money and relative geopolitical calm. There wasn’t much sense in doing anything but following the crowd and levering up. The pandemic broke that prosperity, but only briefly, as a $16 trillion gusher from global central banks neutralized strengths and covered for weaknesses.

That era is over. Walls are going up, money is expensive, and transactional power politics are replacing studied cooperation. Governments are putting their thumb on the scale in ways not seen in decades. And AI is about to upend everything.

That’s an unnerving world, but perhaps a more meritocratic one. Zigging where others zag can pay off. Executives will face choices ranging from the existential (should you redesign your whole supply chain?) to the trivial (should you call it the Gulf of America?), and their decisions will be rewarded or punished swiftly.

This week we’ll hear from business leaders trying to get it right and policymakers setting the board. Thanks for joining us.

Sessions will start at 9 am sharp; if you can’t be there in person but want to watch online, you can join us via this link.

Highlights on the Horizon Stage

Watch live here.

• 9:30 am: Mike Henry, CEO, BHP — on how the world’s biggest mining company plans to dig up enough copper for the AI boom, in conversation with Tim McDonnell, Climate and Energy Editor
• 10:00 am: Tim Cawley, CEO, Consolidated Edison
• 11:05 am: Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, United Kingdom
• 11:35am: Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., virtually
• 11:50 am: Andrew Ferguson, Chairman, FTC — on his views of monopoly, competition and censorship, and where the commission should/shouldn’t play a robust role, in conversation with Elana Schor, Senior Washington Editor

Highlights on the Frontier Stage

Watch live here.

• 9:15 am: Éric Lombard, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, France
• 9:45 am: Ted Sarandos, Co-CEO, Netflix — on the new business of global hitmaking, in conversation with Ben Smith, Editor-in-Chief
• 10:15 am: David Schwimmer, CEO, London Stock Exchange Group
• 10:45 am: Valdis Dombrovskis, EU Commissioner for Economy and Productivity
• 11:35 am: Ken Griffin, CEO, Citadel — on what he thinks of Trump’s economic and trade policies, how that is affecting investor sentiment and capital flows, recent trips to China and the Middle East, in conversation with Gina Chon, Senior Editor

Highlights on the Horizon Stage

Watch live here.

• 2:20 pm: Mary Barra, CEO, GM — on the scrambled new world for global carmakers, in conversation with Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, CEO Editor
• 2:50 pm: Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky.
• 3:05 pm: Michael Miebach, CEO, Mastercard — on how an incumbent hopes to win the innovation race in digital payments, in conversation with Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, CEO Editor
• 4:05 pm: Anjney Midha, General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz — on the battle for control of AI in a rudderless world, in conversation with Reed Albergotti, Technology Editor
• 4:30 pm: Evan Spiegel, CEO, Snap — on the fast-changing world of digital media, in conversation with Kara Swisher

Highlights on the Frontier Stage

Watch live here.

• 2:05 pm: Jörg Kukies, Federal Minister of Finance, Germany
• 2:20 pm: Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to the President; Senior Director for Counterterrorism, White House National Security Council — on Trump’s approach to US alliances and his priorities for counterterrorism, in conversation with Shelby Talcott, White House Correspondent
• 3:20 pm: Steve Bannon, Chief Strategist to the 45th President — on why Republicans should raise taxes on the rich, in conversation with Ben Smith, Editor-in-Chief
• 3:55 pm: Stephen Miran, Chair, White House Council of Economic Advisers — on the future of US factories, the US dollar, and whether we’ll get a Mar-a-Lago Accord, in conversation with Liz Hoffman, Business and Finance Editor
• 4:10 pm: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., virtually
• 4:25 pm: Steve Rattner, Chairman and CEO, Willett Advisors

Paul Polman, Unilever’s CEO from 2009 to 2019, urges CEOs to resist the temptation to pander to the current political moment and potentially lose the trust of their employees and customers. In an essay in the inaugural Semafor View, he writes that leaders who quickly discard values they once spoke glowingly of in boom years risk disillusioning a generation of future workers and clients. To be sure, business leaders need to be practical, but CEOs should be clear what values their organizations stand for, and should hold that line, however uncomfortable.

“The next generation of talent, employees, customers, and clients is watching closely. They are not looking for performative gestures, but for conviction.”

“By avoiding confrontation with a volatile White House, many CEOs are betting that they can safeguard quarterly earnings and regulatory goodwill. In doing so, they risk something far greater: the erosion of public trust in business as a force for good.”

Introducing The Semafor View — our annual guide helping business leaders make sense of this moment. This year’s edition brings together bold provocations from world-class thinkers on the forces reshaping business, policy, and the global economy. From AI disruption to geopolitical realignment, The Semafor View is a must-read for leaders navigating today’s fractured world.

Turmoil in the Treasury bond market is shining a spotlight on a nagging concern in economic circles over the past few years: declining demand for US national debt, which allows America to run perennial deficits. Asian governments, once the most reliable buyers of new US government bonds, have gradually lost appetite, and despite more uptake from the US, UK, and Canada, recent auctions have seen thinner order books. A failed auction — or one that required the government to strongarm banks into bidding — would reprice trillions of dollars in global securities, devaluing collateral everywhere and forcing margin calls on a scale unseen since 2008.

German for “dark lull,” it references periods of limited sunlight and low wind experienced by parts of northern Europe last year that led to skyrocketing power prices. More broadly, Dunkelflaute showcases challenges countries the world over will face as they transition energy systems to cleaner power, putting the onus on expanding battery storage, nuclear, and other forms of “baseload” power.

Unilever is probing the finances of Ben & Jerry’s charitable foundation with a focus on its grants to progressive and pro-Palestinian groups, including to an organization with ties to two of the foundation’s trustees, people familiar with the matter told Semafor’s Liz Hoffman.

It’s the latest escalation of long-running tensions between Ben & Jerry’s and its corporate parent over the creamery’s progressive bent. Unilever is spinning off its ice cream division, which includes Ben & Jerry’s, into a standalone company.