US President Donald Trump is heading to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The annual event is attended by the world's business and political elites, and is designed to promote global solutions. Trump, who promotes an anti-globalist message, will be the first sitting American president to attend the Davos forum since President Bill Clinton in 2000. From Washington, CGTN's Daniel Ryntjes reports.

When Donald Trump accepted his party's nomination to run for president in 2016, his message was clear.

Donald Trump, Presidential Candidate, July 2016 "Americanism, not globalism, will be our credo."

His recently ousted advisor Steve Bannon said last year the president opposes the elites in Davos. But now Donald Trump has decided to breathe in the rarefied mountain air of the Swiss ski resort.

STEVEN MNUCHIN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY "First of all, I didn't realize it was the global elite."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will be accompanying the president.

STEVEN MNUCHIN US TREASURY SECRETARY "There's an awful lot of world leaders. There's an awful lot of finance chairs. There's an awful lot of business people. So to me, this is no more the global elite than the G20, or the event I attended with you in Saudi Arabia or the Milken conference. This is an important economic agenda."

The World Economic Forum aims to bring political and business leaders together with the goal of improving the state of the world.

DOUGLAS REDIKER SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION "There will be a sense of contradiction if not outright hypocrisy between the America First narrative and the populist-nationalist narrative that Donald Trump has been espousing and the overt anti-globalization narrative, that anti-free trade, the anti-Davos narrative being found to be inconsistent with that commitment to improve the state of the world."

Protesters in Switzerland are telling Trump to stay away, though the World Economic Forum is welcoming the president, under this year's theme of Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World.

BORGE BRENDE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM PRESIDENT "The decisions that the U.S. are making in many, many areas do also have a lot of impact on the rest of the world. So, it is very important to have a dialogue with the U.S. and also hear the views from the president."

DANIEL RYNTJES WASHINGTON DC "Donald Trump wants to put America First during Davos and plans to meet with business leaders to advance U.S. commercial interests. Daniel Ryntjes, CGTN, Washington."