The President’s actions involve both granting and revoking.
Following Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s stance toward the U.S., which reportedly caused offense, Trump withdrew an invitation for Canada to join the Board of Peace. Many Western allies view this organization with suspicion; it is chaired by Trump and was initially formed to focus on maintaining the ceasefire in Israel’s conflict with Hamas, but it has expanded into something skeptics fear could rival the United Nations.
During his appearance at the World Economic Forum, Trump discussed imposing tariffs on Switzerland — which he ultimately reduced — because the country’s leader “rubbed me the wrong way” during a phone call. Before implementing tariffs on multiple European countries, Trump pressed Denmark to “say yes” to the U.S. proposal to control Greenland, stating, “and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no and we will remember,” a remark that jeopardized the NATO alliance.
Throughout his decades in public life, Trump has not been known for diplomatic pleasantries. However, the tumult of the past week was particularly notable, even by his standards, as it clearly demonstrated his determination to dismantle the rules-based order that has guided U.S. foreign policy — and by extension much of the Western world — since World War II.
The president and his supporters have dismissed that approach as inefficient, overly focused on compromise, and unresponsive to the needs of people contending with rapid economic change. In its place, however, Trump is advancing a system that is poorly understood and could prove far less stable, driven by the impulses of a single, often mercurial, leader who regularly demonstrates that personal flattery or animosity can shape his decisions.
Returning to the U.S. from Davos, home to the World Economic Forum, Republican Sen. of Alaska stated that the phrase she heard “over and over” was that “we are entering this new world order,” as she described a sense of confusion among allies.
“It may be you just had a bad telephone call with the president and now you’re going to have tariffs directed at you,” she told reporters. “This lack of stability and reliability, I think, is causing what were traditionally reliable trade partners to be saying to other countries, ‘Hey, maybe you and I should talk because I’m not sure about what’s going on with the United States.’”
Trump’s Governance Approach
The Trump-centric approach to governing is hardly surprising for someone who accepted his first Republican presidential nomination in 2016 by declaring that “I alone can fix” the nation’s problems. As he settles into his second term with a far more confident demeanor than his first, he has delighted supporters with his “to the victor go the spoils” style.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser, recently informed The Atlantic that Trump is pursuing a “maximalist strategy” and that he must keep going “until you meet resistance.”
“And we haven’t met 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 have spent much of Trump’s administration trying to find ways to work with him, are increasingly vocal.
Carney is quickly emerging as a leader of a movement for countries to find ways to link up and counter the U.S. Speaking in Davos ahead of Trump, Carney said, “Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.”
“In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice: to compete with each other for favor or to combine to create a third path with impact,” he continued. “We should not allow the rise of hard powers to blind us to the fact that the power of legitimacy, integrity, and rules will remain strong — if we choose to wield it together.”
Trump did not react favorably to those remarks, responding with threats in Davos before rescinding the Board of Peace invitation.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
Some Leaders Are Pushing Back
Carney, however, was unbowed, speaking of Canada as “an example to a world at sea” as he crafted a potential template for other world leaders navigating a new era.
“We can show that another way is possible, that the arc of history isn’t destined to be warped toward authoritarianism and exclusion,” he said in a speech before a cabinet retreat in Quebec City.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday condemned “insulting and frankly appalling” comments in which doubt was expressed that NATO would support the U.S. if requested. The president seemingly ignored that the only time Article 5, which requires all member countries to help another member under threat, was invoked was after the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.
Referring to non-US troops, Trump told Fox Business Network, “You know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that, and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”
Starmer, noting the 457 British personnel who died and those with life-long injuries, said he will “never forget their courage, their bravery and the sacrifice they made for their country.” Denmark, which Trump has belittled as “ungrateful” for U.S. protection during World War II, had the highest per capita casualty rate among coalition forces in Afghanistan.
His tactics have raised fears that Trump is inflicting long-term damage on the U.S. standing in the world and encouraging countries to rethink their alliances and deepen their ties with China. Carney had already traveled there earlier this month to meet with President Xi Jinping.
“China’s leadership watched an American president fight with allies, insult world leaders, and engage in bizarre antics, and thought to themselves — this is nothing but good for us,” Jake Sullivan, former President’s national security adviser, said in an email.
The administration is showing no sign of backing down. In a social media post referring to Canada’s ties with Beijing, Trump said China “will eat them up.” And the Pentagon released a defense strategy late Friday telling allies to increase their defense spending.
Sen. of Delaware, a Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, was in Davos and participated in a bipartisan delegation to Denmark with Murkowski that was intended to show unity amid Trump’s bid for Greenland. Recalling his conversations with other leaders, he told reporters on Friday that Trump has shown he only backs down when countries like China “showed toughness and a resiliency.”
“Those who were accommodating and who negotiated in good faith, like the EU, which did not impose retaliatory tariffs, seemed to have not won any of his respect,” Coons said. “They can reach their own conclusions, but it would seem to me that trying to find a way to accommodate him when the foundation of his demands about Greenland is unhinged … seem to me to suggest a course of action.”
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Contributions to this report were made by Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska; Rob Gillies in Toronto; and Pan Pylas in London.