The U.S. and China Are Making Davos a Mess for Everyone Else

The rivalry between the U.S. and China is complicating the lives of companies and countries that would prefer to stay on the good side of both superpowers. Those caught in the crossfire range from U.S. airlines, which were threatened last year if they didn’t indicate on their websites that Taiwan is part of China, to Canada, which ran afoul of the Chinese when it detained a prominent Chinese tech executive at the Americans’ request.

The tensions are likely to be palpable at the annual World Economic Forum. In recent years each country has used Davos to zing the other. In 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping issued a veiled attack on Donald Trump, who’d just begun his presidency, saying, “Pursuing protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room.” In 2018, Trump said, “The United States will no longer turn a blind eye to unfair economic practices.”