President Donald Trump unleashed a blistering attack on Bank of America for failing to lend to conservatives during a live-streamed speech to global business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
The scathing outburst came in a fiery video appearance where Trump vowed to slap tariffs on countries that don’t manufacture in the U.S. and demanded OPEC lower oil prices.
During a question-and-answer session, the bank’s CEO Brian Moynihan asked Trump how his executive orders would impact the push for economic growth.
Trump first told Moynihan he was doing a ‘fantastic job’, but then skewered him.
The president said: ‘But I hope you start opening your bank to conservatives, because many conservatives complain that the banks are not allowing them to do business within the bank.’
He added: ‘They don’t take conservative business.’
After an excruciating pause Moynihan did not respond to the substance of the president’s attack.
Instead, he said: ‘We look forward to sponsoring the World Cup’ – one of several high-profile upcoming events in the U.S. that Trump touted in his remarks.
Later, Bank of America spokesman Bill Halldin told DailyMail.com: ‘We serve more than 70 million clients. We welcome conservatives and have no political litmus test.’
Trump made his comments as he appeared virtually from Washington D.C.
He also attacked Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase, America’s largest bank.
‘And I don’t know if the regulators mandated that because of Biden or what, but you and Jamie and everybody, I hope you’re going to open your banks to conservatives, because what you’re doing is wrong,’ he said.
Trump’s swipe was a sudden departure from a round of friendly questioning about his policies as his administration gets underway and financial industry leaders adjust.
President Donald Trump makes a special address remotely during the 55th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland
It came as a group of conservative Republican state attorneys general claimed Bank of America has been ‘debanking’ Christian groups and engaging in ‘discriminatory’ behavior after it pulled back lending arrangements.
The bank complied with FBI and Treasury Department demands for consumer information after the January 6, 2021 riot amid fears of further attacks.
Banks are required to provide suspicious activity reports on transactions they uncover.
Separately, Bank of America has denied ‘debanking’ a conservative Memphis-based Christian group that promotes pro-life and anti-same sex relationship values on its website and provides necessities to Ugandan orphans.
‘Religious beliefs are not a factor in any account-closing decision,’ the bank said in August 2023.
Trump, on his first day, issued sweeping pardons of 1,500 January 6 defendants, encompassing both non-violent offenders and those who battled police officers during the attack on the Capitol.
The exchange with the bank boss showed Trump’s determination to dominate business policy, just as he sought to assert himself against other countries, once again talking about absorbing Canada as a U.S. state and threatening tough trade actions.
‘You will have to pay a tariff – differing amounts but a tariff,’ Trump told the gathering of heads of state and business titans in the Swiss Alps.
‘My message to every business in the world is very simple, come make your product in America and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation of Earth… but if you don’t make your product in America then, very simply, you will have to pay a tariff,’ Trump threatened.
Then, he delivered a warm message and some requests to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, who U.S. intelligence assessed was behind the assassination of journalist and dissident Jamal Khashoggi.
MBS has said he wants to make big investments in the U.S. totaling $600 billion that Trump wants to boost.
‘I’ll be asking the crown prince – who’s a fantastic guy – to round it out to $1 trillion,’ Trump said.
That came before he demanded OPEC pump more oil to reduce prices.
‘You gotta bring it down,’ Trump said.
‘If the price came down the Russia Ukraine war would end immediately,’ Trump said.
Russia relies on high oil prices to fund its war, although sanctions have hit its energy infrastructure.
Trump said he was surprised OPEC didn’t pump more oil during the U.S. elections.
‘They should have done it long ago,’ Trump said.
Trump delivered his speech remotely, but said he would try to visit the conference in the future
Trump began his speech, delivered in a monotone, by trashing his predecessor Joe Biden and the ‘disasters we’ve inherited from a totally inept group of people.’
He boasting before the crowd about his election win.
‘We began the golden age of America,’ Trump said. ‘The recent presidential election was won by millions of votes. It was a massive mandate from the American people,’ he said.
‘The entire planet will be more peaceful and prosperous,’ Trump declared.
Four days into his term, Trump did not stop attacking Biden and the ‘chaos caused by the failed policies of the last administration.’
‘President Biden totally lost control of what was going on in our country,’ he said.
He also attacked the ‘stupidity’ of allowing other nations to ‘take advantage’ of the U.S.
