Trump is going to Davos — here are the big names who aren’t

J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang are among the who’s who of political leaders, big-name CEOs and tech pioneers heading to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting.

U.S. President Donald Trump is also attending in person for the first time since he addressed the forum during his first term in 2020. His virtual address last year, days after reentering the White House, shook the event. This time, he will bring the “largest” U.S. delegation yet, according to WEF.

Davos organizers are keen to talk up the numbers they expect to attend — “close to 3,000 cross-sector leaders,” plus a “record” 400 political leaders, 850 top company bosses and 100 tech pioneers. But a government at the center of a geopolitical firestorm won’t be there.

Danish government representatives were invited and decided not to attend, a WEF spokesperson said on Monday, as the dispute over Greenland intensified. Their decision underscores how tense the meeting is likely to be, coming just days after Trump announced fresh tariffs on European countries resisting his attempt to annex the Arctic island. “Any decisions on attendance are a matter for the government concerned. We can confirm that the Danish government will not be represented in Davos this week,” the WEF spokesperson said in a statement.

There are big names among those who aren’t going.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is not on WEF’s attendance list, neither are the leaders of Brazil and India.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Italy’s leader Giorgia Meloni are not on the WEF list, although both are reported to be attending.

During a press conference last week, WEF organizers highlighted that six of the G7 nations are expected to send representatives, in a “historic” move, according to WEF’s president, Børge Brende.

In 2025, the only G7 leader attending Davos in person was then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Alongside President Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz are set to attend in person.

Downing Street would not confirm whether U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is attending — he did not attend last year — but he is reportedly expected to.

In an emergency press conference on Monday morning, Starmer addressed Trump’s announcement of escalating tariffs targeting several European countries, including the U.K., if Greenland isn’t sold to the U.S. But when asked by the BBC whether he would consider meeting Trump in person “this week,” Starmer did not directly answer the question.

U.K. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is set to attend and be a guest on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi isn’t mentioned on WEF’s list, but she is likely to remain in her country, given that she announced on Monday a snap election for Feb. 8.

Davos runs from Monday evening to Friday morning. This year’s theme is “A spirit of dialogue,” with an agenda focusing on five areas: the geopolitical environment, AI, climate and nature, new sources of economic growth and “people and preparedness.”

But the interest will be in who will attend Davos, according to Eric Kutcher, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company, a “strategic partner” to WEF. “It’s going to be about who is there,” he said in a video published by the company. “Much more so than what you see in the topics,” Kutcher said.

Trump’s delegation is set to include U.S Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, plus Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser Jared Kushner. The president is scheduled to address Davos on Wednesday.

WEF’s founder, Klaus Schwab, is one big name who won’t be at Davos. After running the event for decades, Schwab stepped down in April following an investigation into alleged misconduct. He was subsequently cleared of “material wrongdoing.”

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Roche vice-chair Andre Hoffman were announced as WEF’s interim co-chairs in August, and the organization’s new personnel are “making a real push to kind of re-instil the economic orientation of WEF, and in doing so, bringing more of the CEOs,” Kutcher said.

Alongside Nvidia’s Huang, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis are on WEF’s attendance list. Sarah Friar, OpenAI’s chief financial officer, is also set to participate, but the company’s CEO, Sam Altman, is not down to attend.

Key topics for markets include U.S. moves towards a Greenland takeover, political turmoil in Venezuela and the threat by Trump to use force against Iran. Investors will also be watching for announcements from AI firms, central bank updates, and news about companies diversifying away from the U.S.

While some big-name politicians aren’t attending, some of the leaders who are going — such as Argentina’s Javier Milei and Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto — are “no small figures,” according to Jan Aart Scholte, professor of global transformations and governance challenges at Leiden University in the Netherlands.

Governments still see Davos as a place to meet with businesses, he added. “Global capital remains a strong force in world politics, even if big multinational enterprises are generally less embraced and celebrated than 20-30 years ago,” he told CNBC in an email Monday.

While WEF said there are “close to” 65 heads of state expected to attend, plus key figures such as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, other big names are not on the list.

Brazil’s President Lula da Silva and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi are not scheduled to give addresses. But Brende described India’s delegation as “strong,” and noted that the heads of state of other Asian economies, including Indonesia and Pakistan, would attend.

While China’s President Xi is not expected to attend, Brende said a “big” Chinese delegation would attend, including trade and finance Vice Premier He Lifeng, who is due to address the event on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of his nation, is not on WEF’s attendance list. But several of the country’s ministers, including Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan, are scheduled to be interviewed by CNBC during the event.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday he would no longer attend after two high-speed trains collided in the south of the country on Sunday, killing 39 people.

Nigel Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform UK, is expected to attend the event this year. Farage previously called Davos “elite” and said those attending were “people deciding our futures in Swiss ski resorts” in a 2020 video.

Indeed, Davos has been seen by some as elitist and out-of-touch, Scholte said. “Nationalist-populist circles commonly view the WEF as a beacon of a liberal globalist elite that draws their ire,” he told CNBC via email.

– CNBC’s Leonie Kidd contributed to this report.