President Donald Trump is planning on attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland later this month.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement that the president looks forward to "promoting his policies to strengthen American businesses, American industries, and American workers."

Trump, who employed anti-globalization rhetoric on the campaign, did not attend the event last year. Instead, Davos regular Anthony Scaramucci represented the incoming administration at the annual gathering of elites in the Swiss mountains.

Despite his absence, the then-president-elect's shadow loomed large over Davos in 2017.

Without mentioning Trump by name, China President Xi Jinping made a widely attended speech arguing that globalization has fueled global growth, and should not be blamed for the world's problems. Xi also asserted that a global trade war would have no winners.

Following Xi's speech, Scaramucci also sought to calm trade war anxieties and said that China and the U.S. have a "common cause." He said that the U.S. does want "free and fair trade."

"All we're asking for now is to create more symmetry in these trade agreements," Scaramucci said.

Trump's attendance this year comes as the president continues to characterize America's relationship with other leading economies as a "very one-sided and unfair one" and "just not sustainable."

The U.S. president has repeatedly called for reform to shrink the "huge" annual trade deficit, including a November speech in Beijing where he shared the stage with Xi.

— CNBC's Everett Rosenfeld, Matt Clinch and Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.