By Leela de Kretser
DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum kicked off on Tuesday in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
Here's what to watch for on the opening day:
Trump: As the impeachment trial gets underway in the Senate, the U.S. president will be in Davos meeting with world leaders and CEOs. Donald Trump is set to speak onstage with WEF founder Klaus Schwab at 11:30 a.m. local time (1030 GMT). Key bilateral meetings include Iraqi president Barham Salih, Pakistani PM Imran Khan and Nechirvan Barzani, the president of the Kurdish Regional government.
Thunberg: Gretamania has taken over Davos with young activists from around the world following Thunberg to the slopes of Switzerland to advocate on a range of global issues. All eyes will be on any exchanges between her and Trump.
Huawei: Founder Ren Zhengfei, whose CEO daughter Meng Wanzhou turned up to a packed Vancouver courthouse for her extradition trial yesterday, will take the stage to talk about the future of the tech arms race. China has repeated its call for Canada to release Meng. Davos attendees will be listening out for anything Ren says about the case.
U.S. economy: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin will take the stage at 2:30 p.m. local time (1330 GMT). Market watchers will be listening out for Mnuchin's views on enforcing Phase 1 tariffs with China, the digital tax, or the U.S. economy.
Unicorns: Mnuchin's former colleague, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, takes the stage with William Ford and NYSE president Stacey Cunningham to talk unicorn valuations. Goldman took a Q3 profit hit from soured investments in WeWork and Uber.
(Editing by Alexander Smith)
