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European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde walked out after a scuffle with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at the World Economic Forum dinner in Davos, according to people present at the event, a person familiar with the matter said.
The gathering erupted into chaos after Lutnick’s aggressive comments on Tuesday night, the people said, amid appeals for calm from BlackRock’s Larry Fink, the event host and WEF’s interim co-chairman, who jeered en masse.
Lagarde was among the attendees who walked out during the speech, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The theme of this year’s gathering in the Alps is: “The Spirit of Dialogue.”
According to one attendee, Lutnick told his audience that the world should focus on coal as an energy source rather than renewable energy, and made derogatory comments about Europe.
Earlier on Tuesday he wrote an op-ed for the FT in which he said: “We’re not going to Davos to maintain the status quo. We’re going to fight it out.”
He also wrote: “We are here in Davos to make one thing clear: With President Trump, capitalism has a new sheriff in town.”
One chief executive present described the atmosphere as “tense”, while another said it was “noisy and spicy”.
According to two officials present, one of the hecklers was former US Vice President Al Gore.
The US Commerce Department said: “Only one person booed, and that was Al Gore.”
Fink has sought to stabilize the WEF after a tumultuous chapter under Klaus Schwab, in which the organization was rocked by allegations of financial misconduct and a toxic work environment. An investigation cleared Schwab of misconduct.
André Hoffmann, vice president of Fink & Roche, has been leading the WEF’s governing board since August.
Fink told the FT ahead of the conference: “We are living in a more polarized world. There are more people talking to each other than to each other.” He added, “It’s my role to lift everyone up and have serious conversations.”
US and EU relations are at an all-time low after the US President threatened to impose new tariffs on some European countries if they are not allowed to “acquire” Greenland.
The Commerce Department and WEF did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The ECB also declined to comment.
Reporting by Tom Braithwaite, Arash Massoudi, Ortenka Aliaz, Mercedes Ruehl, Olaf Storbeck and Stephen Morris
