Donald Trump will address business and world leaders at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, in a virtual appearance from the US three days after his inauguration as President.

The Davos event, which starts on Monday, will attract more than 3,000 business and political leaders to the Swiss Alps.

They will include 900 company chairs and chief executives along with 60 heads of state.

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Chancellor Rachel Reeves will be the senior UK minister attending having travelled to Davos regularly while in opposition.

Sir Keir Starmer, who once defended his attendance by saying Davos was more important than Westminster, is not expected to travel to Switzerland.

The WEF said that EU president Ursula von der Lyon and Chinese deputy premier Ding Xuexiang will also attend in-person.

Always likely to be dominated by the fallout from Mr Trump‘s second term, particularly the promise of swingeing tariffs on US imports, the event will now hear from the president himself in what organisers said would be a “virtual engagement with participants”.

Now in its 55th year, the World Economic Forum has been a leading proponent of the liberal economic consensus and globalisation under direct threat from Mr Trump’s second term, and populist political trends evident in many developed economies.

The WEF has built its influence, and its place in the political and economic calendar, on the contention that economic cooperation between free markets can deliver peace and end inequality, as well as prosperity to its most effective proponents.

Its chief executive Borge Brende said: “We’re ready to roll up our sleeves to make the best of a situation where there are many, many challenges.”