Europe readies riposte to Trump's 'America First' push in Davos

Davos, Switzerland

EUROPEAN leaders will be out in force at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week to defend multilateralism before US President Donald Trump arrives to deliver his "America First" message.

Politicians, business chiefs, bankers and celebrities will meet in the Swiss Alps under the banner "Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World" for the four-day gathering against an unsettling global backdrop.

A decade after the bankruptcy of US investment bank Lehman Brothers helped trigger a global financial crisis, economic growth has returned and stock markets are hitting record highs.

Yet there is a nagging fear among many in Davos that the brighter economic outlook could turn out to be little more than a mirage if the daunting array of geopolitical threats - from…