WEF26 · Reality Makes a Guest Appearance
Remarks delivered before anyone reached the mute button.
Session: Prosperity, Sovereign Yet Connected
Speaker: Howard Lutnick
Location: Davos, Switzerland
Format: Panel remarks (excerpted)
The clip begins with a clarification of venue.
“We are in Davos.
At the World Economic Forum.”
This information is provided by the speaker, presumably for the benefit of the room.
He then proceeds to explain that globalization, as practiced and promoted by the forum hosting the discussion, has failed.
“Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. It’s a failed policy.”
This is not framed as an update, refinement, or Phase Two. It is described as a completed experiment.
The model, he says, was simple enough. Offshore production. Chase the cheapest labor. Declare efficiency. Announce progress.
The consequences, he argues, were equally simple.
“It has left America behind. It has left the American worker behind.”
From there, the speaker introduces an alternative. Not disengagement, but prioritization. Workers before abstractions. Borders treated as real things. Industrial capacity treated as something worth keeping.
“Sovereignty is your borders. You’re entitled to have borders.”
Certain categories, he suggests, should not be treated as optional. Medicine. Semiconductors. The industrial base itself.
Hollowing these out, he notes, produces dependencies that are difficult to explain away later.
Dependence, if unavoidable, should at least be deliberate.
“If you’re going to be dependent on someone, it better be your best allies.”
At this point, the distinction becomes explicit.
“This is completely different than the WEF.”
The forum, he says, is not a fixed reference point, but a responsive one.
“Not a flag pole in the middle, but the flag whichever way the wind blew.”
Energy policy is offered as a case study. Net-zero targets adopted without domestic battery production. Industrial timelines set without industrial capacity. Strategic outcomes treated as secondary to signaling.
Europe, he suggests, has chosen a deadline. China, meanwhile, has chosen leverage.
The room remains attentive.
The microphone remains active.
The speaker concludes by clarifying that “America First” is not a call for isolation, but for sequence. Take care of your own workers first. Then build relationships from a position that still exists.
“Take care of their own, and then we will work out wonderful relationships between us.”
The argument is delivered plainly. Without euphemism. Without apology.
Filed for archival purposes. Anomalous clarity noted. Video excerpt retained above.