The announcement earlier this month that Donald Trump would attend the 48th annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, came as something of a surprise. For one thing, the town’s fast-food options are woefully limited. For another, it is exceedingly rare for a sitting U.S. president to attend—Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and George H.W. Bush all refrained while in office, and Bill Clinton went just once, in 2000. And then there’s the fact that Davos is filled with exactly the sort of “globalist” elites the president has made a habit of disparaging. So how did Trump decide that not only should he go to Davos—where he might run into at least two people featured in his closing campaign ad about the “global power structure” that has “robbed our working class”—but that he should bring a giant entourage along with him?

According to Axios’s Mike Allen, it was a little bit of unintentional teamwork by Vice President Mike Pence and French President Emmanuel Macron. Apparently, Trump’s interest was first piqued when he heard that Pence was considering attending. Then, in a phone call, the French president reportedly “played to . . . Trump’s ego and slyly encouraged him to take his ‘America first’ bravado to Davos . . . remind[ing] Trump how many world leaders would be [there].” While Macron apparently hopes that Trump will “soak up the viewpoint of the globally focused leaders,” Trump, as sources told the Hive early this month, is eager to brag about his tax cut and, most likely, the stock market gain he can’t go a day without mentioning. As one Wall Street veteran and past attendee put it to me, “Trump just wants his ring kissed.”

According to Allen, Trump’s speech will “indicate a willingness to engage the international economic community, but only on terms fair and favorable to the U.S.” In that vein, the world’s greatest diplomat is expected to snub the prime minister of the United Kingdom for a second time. Macron, on the other hand, stands to gain from the Davos buildup: CNN reports that, following said flattering phone call, Trump is expected to invite Macron for the first official state visit of his presidency.