Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump signaled this week that he's open to cutting federal entitlements to reduce the federal deficit, despite previously campaigning on protecting Medicare and Social Security.

Asked by CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland , whether entitlements would ever be on his plate, Trump responded, "At some point they will be."

"We have tremendous growth. We're going to have tremendous growth. This next year I -- it'll be toward the end of the year. The growth is going to be incredible. And at the right time, we will take a look at that," he added.

Asked by CNBC whether he was willing "to do some of the things that you said you wouldn't do in the past, though, in terms of Medicare," Trump said: "We're going look."

"I mean we've never had growth like this. We never had a consumer that was taking in, through -- different means, over $10,000 a family," he said.

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