‘Day-by-day basis’: Donald Trump’s trip to Davos at risk

Donald Trump’s attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week is in doubt because of the US shutdown.

The US President’s attendance at Davos has been keenly anticipated by Washington’s ­allies, hoping it would expose him to a more globalist agenda. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump’s attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week is in doubt ­because of the US federal shutdown, as Americans yesterday braced for key parts of their government to grind to a halt.

The US President’s attendance at Davos has been keenly anticipated by Washington’s ­allies, including Australia, hoping it would expose Mr Trump to a more globalist agenda beyond his America First policy focus.

“We are taking Davos ... on a day-by-day basis,” White House budget director Mick Mulvaney said yesterday of the Swiss meeting that brings together the world’s political and business leaders. The US government ­remained in shutdown yesterday as both sides of politics blamed the other for the political deadlock after Republicans, Democrats and Mr Trump failed to reach agreement on a funding bill by the deadline of midnight Friday (4pm Saturday AEDT). Under the shutdown, 800,000 government employees will be sent home without pay until a solution is found. It could cost the US economy billions and will spark delays in services for health, education, taxation, financial services and tourism.

Mr Trump yesterday denounced the shutdown as the fault of the Democrats after both parties negotiated up until the final minutes before the shutdown was triggered. “This is the one-year anniversary of my presidency and the Democrats wanted to give me a nice present,” he tweeted.

In a separate tweet, he said: “Democrats are far more concerned with Illegal Immigrants than they are with our great Military or Safety at our dangerous Southern Border. They could easily have made a deal but decided to play Shutdown politics instead.”

Emergency meetings in congress yesterday failed to resolve the deadlock, meaning the shutdown will enter its second day. It is the first since 2013 when the government closed for 16 days when funding was blocked over a dispute linked to the rift over Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

The only glimmer of hope late yesterday was a proposal backed by moderate members of both parties that called for an interim funding bill until February 8 that would delay a vote on a bipartisan immigration bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he planned to proceed with a vote on the proposal at 1am today Washington time (5pm AEDT).

The move came as hundreds of thousands of protesters marched across the US on the first anniversary of the Trump administration attacking the President and calling for greater empowerment of women.

The shutdown is a major blow to the credibility of both parties, and each tried to convince the public yesterday it was the fault of their opponents.

“The Republicans control the White House, the Senate, the house. That’s why America and the world are calling this shutdown the Trump shutdown,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

House Minority Leader Democrat Nancy Pelosi said:

“Happy anniversary, Mr President. Your wish came true. You wanted the shutdown? The shutdown is all yours.”