The Republican Party showcased a variety of leading names across its 2024 candidate pool, but former President Donald Trump remains a frontrunner for the party nomination in the US presidential election this year.

"The media is talking about Nikki Haley, but [Ron] DeSantis has still been far better known nationally, in terms of pooling in second place," Eurasia Group Founder and President Ian Bremmer tells Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman and Brian Sozzi at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Haley was "trying to make the argument that it's a two-person race — it is not a two-person race, it's a one-person race."

Bremmer lays out the economic risks and geopolitical concerns tied to a Trump-Biden rematch in the 2024 election.

"Just under the ice is sheer panic on the part of, certainly, every European leader," Bremmer states on global leaders' feelings on a Trump re-election.

It's all part of Yahoo Finance's exclusive coverage from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where our team will speak to top decision-makers as well as preeminent leaders in business, finance, and politics about the world’s most pressing issues and priorities for the coming year.

Watch Yahoo Finance's full interview with Ian Bremmer here, or you can watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live here.

Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

IAN BREMMER: The media is talking about Nikki Haley, but DeSantis has still been far better known nationally, he still is polling in second place. And this is going to hurt Nikki. She was really trying to make the argument that it's a two-person race-- it is not a two-person race, it's a one person race. Everybody else is essentially jockeying for cabinet positions and vice president under Trump if he wins. And that is, you know, where the country is going right now.

BRIAN SOZZI: What is the economic risk that you see if we do have a rematch of Trump and Biden?

IAN BREMMER: I don't think there's a-- well, there's a near-term risk in the sense that once Trump gets the nomination, which is virtually certain, that he will be so much more powerful in the Republican Party. I mean overnight, he'll have the loyalty of pretty much everybody, the endorsements, the money, the media attention.

And that means that his policy pronouncements to the extent that he makes them will suddenly have a lot more impact, for example, in pushing not to provide any support for the Ukrainians, or in giving the Iranians a much tougher run in responding to their support for proxy wars in the region. Do I think that's going to have a big economic impact? Not near-term.

If Trump wins, of course, last time around there was a positive market impact to Trump winning. Why? Massive near-term deficit spending, markets like that. Regulatory rollback, markets like that. And also lower taxation. This time around, that would also be true, but it would be counterbalanced by so much of the concerns of American credibility.

Even creditworthiness around a US that is so dysfunctional, so polarized, and where a new McCarthyism could emerge that would really chill red versus blue, including investability of red versus blue states under a Trump-led political administration. That wasn't a risk in 2016, that would be a risk in 2025.

JULIE HYMAN: But is that a risk that would dissuade President Trump from doing any of that stuff?

IAN BREMMER: No. Of course, not.

JULIE HYMAN: So it could happen anyway?

IAN BREMMER: Of course.

JULIE HYMAN: OK. I am curious here in Davos, how many people are talking about the likelihood of a Trump presidency and sort of trying to prepare for that already.

IAN BREMMER: Everyone's talking about it. I mean, there's a lot of ice out there right under the ice, just under the ice is sheer panic on the part of certainly every European leader. You may have seen Christine Lagarde, the head of the ECB, who came out publicly saying that she thought that Trump was a serious risk for Europe, for trade relations, for America's role in the world.

She's the only one that said that publicly, every European leader I'm speaking to privately is concerned. I just had a meeting with a very senior Japanese delegation this morning, that was issue number 1, 2, and 3. And they say back in Tokyo right now, every CEO, that is what they're worried about. It's not yet dominating the media, but compared to the last two months ago when I was in Tokyo, it's become much more real.

I think people were hoping that, you know, it can't really be real. I mean, given 91 indictments and given, you know, all of the legal exposure and the fact that in Washington DC Trump could very easily be convicted before an election, something's going to happen to stop him. No, it's not. No, it's not. The only thing standing in the way of Trump winning is 81-year-old Joe Biden who has a record to run on, but also has a lot of people that feel like he's not actually up to the job.

And that is a serious concern for a former president who refused to accept the free and fair transfer of power. I mean, that's existential. It's foundational to any democracy. In any well-functioning democracy, if you had this going on, this would be the number 1, 2, and 3 issue. And yet in our country it's not. What's the conclusion you take from that? Our democracy is not well functioning. It is a democracy in crisis. And yes, that is the top issue being discussed at Davos this year.