As the Clintons Step Back From Global Stage, Bloomberg Steps Up<br />That the United Nations annual meeting — a week when the leaders of 193 countries all descend on Manhattan — is “the time<br />and place in which more powerful people get together than any place in the world.”<br />The Bloomberg-sponsored 2017 forum comes during the first year of President Trump’s tenure, as he has promised<br />a pullback under the banner of “America First” from engagement abroad and international trade deals.<br />The speaker and panelist list is impressive and wide-ranging: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada; President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey; Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs; Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft; Jack Ma, the executive chairman of Alibaba Group;<br />and Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund.<br />In a symbolic passing of the guard, Mr. Clinton will be the first speaker on the day’s agenda almost exactly a year<br />after he urged attendees “you have to keep this alive” in a farewell address at the last Clinton Global Initiative.<br />The festivities around the Clinton Global Initiative, which ran from 2005 through 2016,<br />were fueled by the star power of one past president and a potential future one.<br />But after Bill and Hillary Clinton announced the end of their signature conference during last year’s presidential<br />campaign, Michael R. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York and billionaire, has stepped unto the breach.<br />Even though Mr. Trump’s presidency is expected to be a dominant topic at the Bloomberg forum, only<br />one administration official is participating in a panel: Wilbur Ross, the secretary of commerce
