Trump stirs talk of ‘new world order’ as leaders signal shifting global alliances
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump gives. And he takes it away.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s words disturbed increasingly assertive Trump withdraws invitation to attend after stance against US Peace Board. Many Western allies are suspicious of the organization, which is chaired by Trump and initially set up to focus on maintaining a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas but which skeptics increasingly fear could rival the United Nations.
Appearing at the World Economic Forum, Trump talked about imposing tariffs on Switzerland — which he eventually dropped — because the country’s leader “rubbed me the wrong way” during a phone call. Before shelved tariffs In multiple European countries, Trump pressured Denmark to “say yes” to a U.S. attempt to control Greenland, endangering the NATO alliance by saying “we’ll be very grateful for that. Or you can say no, and we’ll remember.”
Throughout his decades in public life, Trump has never been one for civility. But even by his standards, last week’s turmoil stood out because it crystallized his determination to erase the rules-based order that has governed U.S. foreign policy — and by extension, much of the Western world — since World War II.
The president and his supporters have rejected this approach as inefficient, focused too much on compromise, and unresponsive to the needs of people struggling with rapid economic change. But instead, Trump is advancing a system that is poorly understood and may prove far less stable, driven by the whims of a single, often volatile leader who regularly demonstrates that personal flattery or hostility can shape his decisions.
Republican Senator returning to the USA from Davos, hosting the World Economic Forum. Lisa Murkowski Describing the confusion among allies from Alaska, he said the phrase he heard “over and over again” was “we’re entering this new world order.”
“You may have had a bad phone call with the president, and now they’re going to impose tariffs on you,” he told reporters. “I think this lack of stability and reliability is causing traditionally reliable trading partners to say to other countries: ‘Hey, maybe you and I should talk because I’m not sure what’s going on in the United States.’”
Trump-centered management approach
The Trump-centered approach to governing is hardly surprising for someone who accepted the first Republican presidential nomination in 2016, saying “only I can solve” the country’s problems. As he entered his second term with a much more confident attitude than his first, he delighted the fans with his winner-takes-the-spoils style.
Recently, Trump’s former advisor Steve Bannon said He said in The Atlantic that Trump was pursuing a “maximalist strategy” and should keep going “until he meets resistance.”
“And we didn’t encounter any resistance,” Bannon said.
That’s certainly true in Washington, where the Republican-controlled Congress has done little to check Trump’s impulses. But leaders of other countries, who spent much of the Trump administration searching for ways to work with him, are increasingly speaking out.
Carney is quickly emerging as the leader of a movement aimed at helping countries find ways to engage with and counter the U.S. Speaking before Trump in Davos, Carney said, “The middle powers must act together because if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”
“In a world of great power competition, the countries in between have a choice: compete with each other for good or unite to create a third way of influence,” he continued. “We must not let the rise of hard powers blind us to the fact that legitimacy, integrity and the power of rules remain strong if we choose to use them together.”
Trump did not take kindly to these remarks and responded with threats in Davos before withdrawing the Peace Board invitation.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said. “Remember that next time you explain, Mark.”
Some leaders are stepping back
But Carney did not give in and referred to Canada as “an example to the world at sea” as he laid out a potential template for other world leaders ushering in a new era.
“We can show that another path is possible, that the course of history will not shift towards authoritarianism and exclusion,” he said before a cabinet meeting in Quebec City.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer blasted Trump Friday for his “insulting and frankly appalling” comments expressing doubts that NATO would support the United States if requested. Looks like the president ignored this one time Article 5 of NATO’s founding agreementThe law, which requires all member countries to assist another member under threat, was implemented after the September 11 attacks on the United States.
“You know, they’ll say they sent troops to Afghanistan or something, and they did, they stayed a little bit behind, a little bit away from the front lines,” Trump told Fox Business Network, referring to troops outside the United States.
Noting that 457 British personnel lost their lives and were injured for life, Starmer said that he would “never forget their courage, bravery and sacrifices for their country.” Denmark, which Trump described as “ungrateful” for protecting the United States during World War II Highest death rate per capita Among coalition forces in Afghanistan.
His tactics have raised fears that Trump will do long-term damage to the United States’ standing in the world and encourage countries to rethink their alliances and deepen ties with China. Carney traveled there earlier this month to meet with President Xi Jinping.
“The Chinese leadership watched an American president fight with allies, insult world leaders, and behave strangely, and thought to himself, this is nothing but good for us,” former President Jake Sullivan said. Joe Biden’s the national security adviser said in an email.
The management doesn’t seem to be stepping back. In a social media post addressing Canada’s ties with Beijing, Trump said China would “eat them.” And the Pentagon released a defense strategy late Friday that told allies: take care of their own security.
You. Chris Coons Delaware, a Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, was in Davos and joined a bipartisan delegation with Murkowski to Denmark aimed at showing unity in Trump’s Greenland bid. Recalling his meetings with other leaders, he told reporters on Friday that Trump has shown that he only backs down when countries like China “show toughness and resilience.”
“Those who are accommodating and negotiate in good faith, such as the EU, which does not impose retaliatory tariffs, do not appear to have earned his respect,” Coons said. “They can come to their own conclusions, but it seems to me that trying to find a way to accommodate him when his demands for Greenland are not well founded… suggests a course of action to me.”
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Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, Rob Gillies in Toronto and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.
