President Trump late Thursday canceled a White House delegation’s scheduled trip to the glitzy economic conference in Davos, Switzerland, next week, on the heels of stopping House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers from traveling overseas on a government plane.
The White House cited the partial government shutdown.
“Out of consideration for the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay and to ensure his team can assist as needed, President Trump has canceled his Delegation’s trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
The president had planned to attend the annual conference for the ultra-rich, as he did last year. But he backed out due to the partial government shutdown, entering its 28th day on Friday.
Still, the administration had planned to send a scaled-down delegation led by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Now the trip has been cancelled entirely.
The conference with 37 heads of state, corporate titans and others will run from Jan. 22 to 26.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Trump notified Mrs. Pelosi that he was canceling her use of a military plane to travel with other lawmakers to NATO headquarters in Belgium and then on to Afghanistan to meet with troops. He cited the shutdown and the need for negotiations.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.