WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is giving. And he takes.
Offended by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s increasingly assertive stance toward the US, Trump revoked his invitation to join his Peace Council. Many Western allies are suspicious of the organization, which is led by Trump and was originally formed to focus on maintaining a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas, but has become something skeptics fear could rival the United Nations.
Appearing at the World Economic Forum, Trump talked about imposing tariffs on Switzerland – which he eventually reduced – because the country’s leader “rubbed me the wrong way” during a phone call. Before dropping steep tariffs on several European countries, Trump pressed Denmark to “say yes” to US force control of Greenland “and we’ll be very grateful. Or you can say no and we’ll remember,” he said, putting the NATO alliance at risk.
Throughout his decades in public life, Trump has never been one for beauty. But even by his standards, last week’s tumult stood out because it crystallized his determination to wipe out the rules-based order that has governed US foreign policy — and by extension, much of the Western world — since World War II.
The president and his supporters have dismissed this approach as ineffective, too focused on compromise, and insensitive to the needs of people facing rapid economic change. But in its place, Trump advances a system that is poorly understood and could prove far less stable, driven by the whims of a single, often mercurial leader who regularly demonstrates that personal flattery or animus can shape his decisions.
Returning to the US from Davos, home of the World Economic Forum, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said the phrase she heard “over and over” was that “we’re entering this new world order,” describing a sense of confusion among allies.
“You may have just had a bad phone call with the president and now you’re going to have tariffs directed at you,” she told reporters. “I think this lack of stability and reliability makes traditionally trusted trading partners say to other countries, ‘Hey, maybe you and I should talk because I’m not sure what’s going on with the United States.’
The Trump-centric approach to governance
Trump’s centric approach to governance is hardly surprising for someone who accepted his first Republican presidential nomination in 2016 declaring that “I alone can solve” the nation’s problems. As he settles into his second term with a much more confident attitude than his first, he has delighted supporters with his winning style.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former adviser, recently told The Atlantic that Trump is pursuing a “maximum strategy” and that he must continue “until you meet resistance.”
“And we met no 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 fast emerging as the leader of a movement for countries to find ways to bond with and counter the US. Speaking in Davos ahead of Trump, Carney said: “The middle powers need to get their act together because if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”
“In a world of great power rivalry, countries between them have a choice: compete with each other for favor or combine to create an impactful third way,” 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 take kindly to those remarks, responding with threats at Davos before yanking the Peace Council invitation.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make statements.
Some leaders push back
Carney, however, was unflinching, speaking of Canada as “an example for a world at sea” while creating a potential template for other world leaders navigating a new era.
“We can show that another path is possible, that the arc of history is not destined to be warped toward authoritarianism and exclusion,” he said in a speech before a cabinet retreat in Quebec City.
In Britain, Prime Minister Keir Starmer blasted Trump on Friday for “insulting and frankly appalling” comments in which he expressed doubt that NATO would support the US if asked. The president apparently ignored the fact that the only time Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty, which requires all member countries to assist another member under threat, was invoked after the 9/11 attacks on the US.
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 bit behind, a little bit off the front lines.”
Starmer, mentioning the 457 British servicemen who died and those with life-long injuries, said he would “never forget the courage, bravery and sacrifice they made for their country”. Denmark, which Trump called “ungrateful” for US protection during World War II, had the highest number of deaths per capita among coalition forces in Afghanistan.
His tactics have raised fears that Trump is inflicting long-term damage on the US’s standing in the world and is encouraging countries to rethink their alliances and deepen ties with China. Carney already traveled there earlier this month to meet with President Xi Jinping.
“China’s leadership saw an American president fighting allies, insulting world leaders and engaging in outlandish antics and thought to themselves — this is nothing but good for us,” Jake Sullivan, national security adviser to former President Joe Biden, said in an email.
The administration shows no signs of backing down. In a social media post referring to Canada’s ties to Beijing, Trump said China would “eat them up.” And the Pentagon released a defense strategy late Friday telling allies to look after their own security.
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, was in Davos and participated in a bipartisan delegation to Denmark with Murkowski that aimed to show unity amid Trump’s Greenland claim. Recalling conversations with other leaders, he told reporters on Friday that Trump had only shown he was backing down when countries like China “showed toughness and resilience.”
“Those who were accommodating and negotiated in good faith, like the EU, which did not impose retaliatory tariffs, seemed to have gained none of his respect,” Coons said. “I can come to my own conclusions, but it seems to me that trying to find a way to accommodate him when the basis of his claims on Greenland is out of whack … seems to me to suggest a course of action.”
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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.