Newsom administration alleges State Department pressure in Davos cancellation

Gavin Newsom was informed at the 11th hour that his talk with Fortune at USA House in Davos was canceled.

Newsom had been invited to speak on Wednesday at an event sponsored by USA House, which for the first time was recognized by the U.S. government as the country’s official headquarters at Davos. But an organizer told his office that they had opted to not include any U.S. officials in the talk focused on CEOs and other business leaders.

In a private exchange of messages obtained by POLITICO, a Newsom administration official accused the USA House of bowing to political pressure from the State Department — an accusation the organizer denied, while emphasizing the governor was still welcome in the venue — in a microcosm of the larger geopolitical tensions on display.

The back-and-forth reflected the political sparring match playing out at the gathering of the world’s elite. Newsom, the Democratic governor of California and a likely 2028 presidential contender, attended to trumpet California as an alternative to the vision laid out by Trump officials who also gathered in Switzerland.

In the exchange, an event organizer denied to a Newsom official that the organization had “un-invited” Newsom or acted under any political imperative. USA House did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

Newsom has planned to use the gathering to excoriate what he casts as the Trump administration’s abuses of power, framing California — and implicitly himself — as a better partner to European allies who are reeling from Trump’s effort to claim Greenland. He challenged European counterparts this week to confront Trump, calling the president “pathetic.”

White House officials have not been shy about punching back. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent mocked the governor from a Davos stage earlier on Wednesday, saying Newsom “may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris” and warning the Trump administration is “coming to California” to crack down on alleged fraud. Bessent also appeared to hint at the cancellation.

“I was told he was asked to give a speech on his signature policies but he’s not speaking,” Bessent said, “because what have his economic policies brought? Outward migration from California, a gigantic budget deficit, the largest homeless population in America.”

The episode is reminiscent of a spat when Newsom traveled to Washington last month and accused the Trump administration of declining to make an official available for a meeting about California’s longstanding request for more federal wildfire aid.