CGTN Europe interviewed Lisa Donahue, Co-Head of the Americas & Asia at AlixPartners
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00:00Donald Trump's threat of tariffs on all imported goods is likely to dominate the first day
00:13of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
00:15Thousands of politicians and business leaders from more than 130 countries are arriving
00:19in Davos. Our correspondent Juliet Mann is there. Juliet, what's the mood ahead of Mr
00:27Trump's inauguration?
00:31Jamie, the roll call of heads of state and government and titans of industry who are
00:36going to be addressing delegates here at the World Economic Forum has created a real buzz
00:40of anticipation. But I have to say that the Davos crowd is a little bit distracted today.
00:46It's all about the inauguration. They're on inauguration watch up and down the town. And
00:53there's a real nervousness because you've been talking about those tariffs that Trump
00:57has been promising. 10 to 20 percent on imports from Europe, 60 percent on goods from China.
01:03And all of that has created huge uncertainty around the US's relationships around the world.
01:10And the markets are hoping that once Trump is in power in the White House, that maybe
01:15there'll be some clarity around taxes, around tariffs, and that will clear the way for deal
01:21making to be done. I'm joined now by what's become a Davos regular, Lisa Donoghue, who's
01:27the co-head of Americas and Asia at Alex Partners, the consultancy. Great to see you again.
01:33Nice to see you.
01:34Now you are turnaround guys. So you've been leading large businesses in the complexities
01:39of business transformation. So to what extent has all this uncertainty around what the US
01:45administration is going to do affected all that?
01:48You know, it's an interesting dynamic. We do a disruption index every year to measure
01:53the amount of concern and trepidation of CEOs, global CEOs. And I think that given dealing
02:01with COVID and dealing with uncertainty, supply chain disruptions, war in Ukraine, all of
02:09those challenges globally have made CEO and leaders a bit more resilient, a bit more prepared
02:15for whatever comes their way. And it's refreshing. Now, 60% tariffs will be tough for anyone
02:22to deal with. But I like to think that as the market, we're going to be looking at deals
02:28being made versus decisions that will have longstanding ramifications that no one really
02:35wants.
02:36So Trump has said that there's going to be tariffs all the way. Other parts of the world
02:41could say, OK, let's work with that and just absorb the extra costs, or they could bring
02:45in their own duties regime. What's your take on the world becoming more protectionist?
02:51Well, we're such a globally integrated economy. The supply chains I just mentioned, disruption
02:57from the supply chains happened because the war in Ukraine and the impacts were far standing
03:03around the world. So I think protectionism, in my opinion, is a bad idea. I think that
03:10trying to find common ground and the right approach to what makes sense from a pricing
03:15perspective, from a protection of IP perspective, a protection of one's shores perspective is
03:21inevitable. But I'd like to think that we are going to be able to come up with something
03:26a bit more collaborative. Look, it's the spirit of what we're working on right now here in
03:31Davos is collaboration.
03:34You haven't mentioned intelligence. You haven't mentioned artificial intelligence. You haven't
03:38mentioned sustainability. Those are top of the agenda, right?
03:41Top of the agenda. And what's driving, if you think about the leaps and bounds in AI
03:47and what that means from the insatiable need for data also means insatiable need for electricity
03:53and power, which goes right toward what are sustainable solutions? How do we get to the
03:58energy transition that we all want while still dealing with the exponential increase in demand
04:04that we're seeing?
04:06We will hear keynote speakers from world leaders and heads of institution. Among them, China's
04:10Vice President Jing-Chui Hsien-Chang. That's going to be interesting. But who else are
04:15you most interested in hearing from?
04:18Well, I always like hearing from the tech guys because right now we're such a tech-driven
04:24business economy. So I'm interested in hearing from the AI guys, the folks from Palantir
04:32because they deal with big data in massive amounts and make it understandable. And I'm
04:38interested in, of course, I'm interested in the Vice President of China. I'm very interested
04:43to hear what he has to say.
04:44Lisa Donoghue, always a pleasure. Thank you so very much.
04:47Thank you. Great to see you.