The centre cannot hold: Davos frets over popularity of Trump and Sanders in US

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A supporter of Donald Trump disrupts US Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Bernie Sanders during a campaign rally in Amherst, Massachusetts on January 2. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:23pm, 21 Jan 2016Updated: 12:23pm, 21 Jan 2016

The collapsing centre of US politics poses a growing threat to global business, according to Davos delegates who say they’re watching anxiously as Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders ride a populist wave in the presidential election.

“Trump is right now busy chasing the Mexicans,” T.K. Kurien, the chief executive officer of Indian information-technology services firm Wipro Ltd, said in an interview at the Swiss mountain resort, where the World Economic Forum meets this week. “But after he finishes with the Mexican story, I am pretty sure he’ll train his guns on us.”

Some in Davos see the rise of Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders as even more stunning than that of Donald Trump. Photo: AP

Wipro gets about half its revenue from the US. Kurien said he’d be equally concerned if Sanders, a self-proclaimed socialist seeking the Democratic nomination on a platform of reining in corporate power, were to win the presidency in November.

The turbulent American election season is near the top of a long list of concerns weighing on the 2,500 corporate executives, political leaders and financiers at this year’s gathering in Davos. With less than two weeks before voting in primaries gets under way, Trump has led the Republican field for months, while polls show Sanders is catching up with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

As usual, Trump is grabbing the most attention, even though the real-estate magnate’s blond mop and booming voice aren’t among the sights and sounds in Davos this year. His dominance of the race for the Republican nomination has attendees fretting that appeals to xenophobia and protectionism are taking hold in the world’s largest economy.

US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a campaign rally at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Trump has endorsed a “temporary” ban on Muslims entering the country and the building of a wall on the Mexican border. He rails at the loss of US jobs to overseas competitors, and on Tuesday said that as president he would “get Apple to start building their damn computers and things” in the US, instead of China.

While political change is essential, Trump is offering the wrong kind, according to BlackRock Inc founder Larry Fink.