Over the past week, the world's political leaders and business leaders convened at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
Much of the talk ranged from the potential for a global recession in 2023 to how to tackle climate change. Although President Biden opted to skip the event, Washington's presence was still felt in other ways.
Here are three political takeaways from Davos:
U.S.-China relations
Economic and technological ties between the U.S. and China were front and center in Davos.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made her first in-person meeting with China's Vice Premier Liu He in Zurich, Switzerland, after Liu addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday.
Yellen's meeting with her Beijing counterpart came after China reported 3% GDP growth for 2022, its second-lowest rate of annual growth since 1976. China also reported a population decline of 850,000 people for the year, which marked the first decline since the 1960s.
The Biden administration has kept Trump-era technology restrictions in place and added export controls in the semiconductor manufacturing space last October. While China would like to see those rules lifted, that remains highly unlikely as the restrictions have rare bipartisan support in the U.S.
Meanwhile, FBI Director Christopher Wray continued to amplify Washington's concerns about national security pertaining to China's advancements in artificial intelligence.
During his remarks at Davos, Wray said that China has artificial intelligence ambitions that are "built on top of massive troves of intellectual property and sensitive data that they've stolen over the years," according to the Associated Press.
"That's something we're deeply concerned about and I think everyone here should be deeply concerned about," Wray added.
Ukraine's Zelensky addresses WEF
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continued to urge the West for military and financial assistance to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia.
Zelensky appeared virtually at WEF to persuade the U.S. and its allies to provide tanks, in particular.
"The supplies of Western tanks must outpace another invasion of Russian tanks," Zelensky said. "The restoration of security and peace in Ukraine must outpace Russia's attacks on security and peace in other countries...Russia is exporting terror. Russia is spreading the stream of the war around the world. Ukraine offers the world a peace formula."
Centrist senators in attendance as Biden skips WEF
The Senate's political center was present in Davos, and Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) both doubled down on their support for keeping the filibuster in place in Congress's upper chamber.
Bloomberg reported that the two politicians high-fived on stage at Davos over their agreement on maintaining the filibuster, illustrating the influence these two moderates maintain in the U.S. Senate when it comes to keeping a key procedural guardrail in place.
The Senate filibuster requires two-thirds of the upper chamber to agree to bring a piece of legislation to a vote. Progressives have assailed Manchin and Sinema for their continued support of the filibuster, which has stalled both parties' ability to quickly pass legislation with a simple majority. Manchin and Sinema's message in Davos? Too bad.
Kevin Cirilli is a visiting media fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub and the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue. Follow him on LinkedIn here.
More Yahoo Finance coverage of Davos 2023:
Rubenstein: Fed will settle for 'tolerable' 3% inflation, doesn't see imminent recession
Roubini: U.S. debt ceiling fight is a potential 'financial catastrophe'
'You can see': Citi CEO details how the bank handles productivity amid hybrid work
Why Unilever's CEO has embraced Disney investor Nelson Peltz
Immigration tops U.S. officials' agendas at this week's global gathering
Gary Cohn on recession fears: 'We've weathered the storm in the United States'
Bank of America CEO: No mass layoff announcements are in the cards
Bank of America CEO on Fed easing: Why 'higher for longer' makes sense
Davos 2023: ChatGPT ‘a great co-pilot for creatives,’ will.i.am says
Click here for politics news related to business and money
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
Download the Yahoo Finance app for Apple or Android
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, LinkedIn, and YouTube
