A ghost of elections past in the form of ex-president Donald Trump haunted the annual schmoozefest of the world's political and business elites in Davos.

While the American reality television star-turned-politician was on the other side of the Atlantic, the biggest names in business, finance and politics at the Swiss Alpine resort could not escape him after he stormed to victory on Monday in the Iowa caucuses.

Trump is the frontrunner to be the Republican nominee for the November election, and that would mean a repeat of the race between him and current US President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, attendees believed Trump could win back the White House -- and his name came up until the very last day of the conference on Friday.

"In Davos, Donald Trump is already the president," Open Society Foundations chairman Alex Soros remarked at one of the final panels.

"That's a good thing, because the Davos consensus is always wrong," deadpanned Soros, the son of billionaire philanthropist George Soros.