2 days Ago
With 100 days in office behind him, it is too early to say if US president Donald Trump has succeeded in making America great again. However, if his goal was to make America grate again, he has surely excelled. A blizzard of presidential decrees has transformed American relations, making friends of foes – and vice versa.
Old and trusted ties have been discarded for risky new ones. Yet some recognition of the problems caused by giving the world the cold shoulder – through rigid adherence to “America-first” imperatives – may now be dawning. US treasury secretary Scott Bessent has said: “America First does not mean America alone.
To the contrary, it is a call for deeper collaboration.” The message might have sounded more conciliatory were it not echoing over an insurmountable tariff wall. With economists in rare agreement that Trump administration trade wars are likely to drive the global economy into recession, it was hard to find reassurance in Mr Bessent’s words.
Even in the US, leading retailers have been warning Mr Trump that his policies risk disruption of vital supply chains and could raise prices and lead to empty shelves. Mr Trump, too, has signalled that some negotiations had taken place with China, as if to take the heat out of the situation. But Beijing’s response was cool – there will be no talks until tariffs are lifted.
His 41pc approval rating is the lowest – after 100 days – since Dwight D Eisenhower in 1953 The pursuit of Trumpian protectionism, as opposed to multilateralism, is forcing businesses worldwide to consider alternative markets. Skittishness in the White House is having a chilling effect on investment and confidence is suffering at home and abroad. A University of Michigan poll says 44pc of Americans now believe they will be worse off a year from now.
Even during the Great Recession, the number never rose this high, according to the Washington Post . Of more immediate concern to Mr Trump may be the fact that public sentiment towards him has fallen to “historically low numbers”. His 41pc approval rating is the lowest – after 100 days – since Dwight D Eisenhower in 1953.
It is reported that the ruthless application of stringent immigration controls is causing most unease. Internationally, Mr Trump’s embrace of Russian president Vladimir Putin, isolated and condemned by the Biden administration since the invasion of Ukraine, has caused a reset in transatlantic relations. Alliances have been sundered.
Mr Trump has said the EU was formed with a sole purpose of “screwing the United States”. His extraordinary claim on Canada has stirred a patriotic wave that propelled Mark Carney to become new prime minister. He seized the moment to throw down the gauntlet to his neighbour: “We believe in international co-operation.
And if the United States no longer wants to lead, Canada will.” Protracted volatility can be a symptom of not having an appreciation of long-established underlying values. The whirlwind has swept away much that was once prized.
As to whether this will be seen as a necessary clean-out, or a ruinous sell-out, remains to be seen..
