The United States has long enjoyed a supremely enviable position in the world: not just a military superpower but a beacon of freedom and democracy, a fount of movies and music beloved by audiences abroad, an architect of international institutions, and a magnet for foreigners who yearn for what we enjoy.
But under Donald Trump, all that is changing. Oscar Wilde said of George Bernard Shaw, “He has no enemies but is intensely disliked by his friends.” Trump is different: He has plenty of enemies around the world, and his friends can’t stand him.
He has no regard for those nations that have been pals with us in the past. The U.S. used to cultivate warm ties with the two nations that share our land borders. But Trump has poisoned those relationships through his intemperate demands and threats.
He prizes military power, while throwing away what’s known as soft power: our ability to advance our interests and values through diplomacy, global frameworks that we’ve shaped, and the allure of both our democratic system and our vibrant culture.
In the president’s “America First” calculus, we don’t need friends — because we can get what we want through threats and punishments. We are in a position to bully just about anyone.
In his first term, Trump decried the North American Free Trade Agreement and forced Canada and Mexico to negotiate a new trade accord. On his return to office, though, he tossed it aside to impose higher import taxes. His other trade “deals” are likewise subject to whatever whim strikes him. Trump’s commitments are not built to last.
He has a destructive habit of focusing entirely on the short run — getting something he can proclaim as a victory in the next news cycle. But foreign policy and national security are a long game, and Trump’s approach promises to backfire later, if not sooner.
No one likes being bullied, and while victims may see no choice today but to comply, the abuse fosters anger, resentment and the desire for payback. This applies to both foreign governments and those they represent. Americans bridle when they think their leaders exhibit weakness — and so do citizens of every other nation.
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When the European Union swallowed a huge increase in the tariffs imposed on goods it ships to the U.S., French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said it is “a dark day when an alliance of free people, brought together to assert their values and defend their interests, resigns itself to submission.” Alice Weidel, leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany, which Trump has defended, proclaimed, “The EU has let itself be brutally ripped off.” The humiliation won’t be forgotten.
Trump can (falsely) claim this and other trade “deals” as a win. But seeing how U.S. leverage can be used against them, our trading partners will seek to erode it. They and other countries have a growing incentive to band together against us. The victimized governments will look for ways to quietly renege on their commitments.
Powerful adversaries, by contrast, often get gentle treatment from this administration — notably Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has made a mockery of Trump’s promise to end the war in Ukraine overnight.
North Korean despot Kim Jong Un — of whom Trump once gushed, “We fell in love” — has expanded the nuclear arsenal that our president wanted to eliminate. Trump has a habit of coddling enemies and abusing friends, neither of which serves our strategic interests.
He’s on a mission to ruin our good name. He does things calculated to spread fear of America around the world: not just imposing heavy tariffs, but vowing to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal, bombing Iran, terrorizing immigrants and cutting off refugee admissions.
At the same time, he has closed down the U.S. Agency for International Development and cut off programs that combated hunger and disease, while gutting the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia. These programs and others not only provided critical help to suffering people abroad, but also built up an invaluable American asset: goodwill.
In 2002, 71% of Canadians had a favorable opinion of the U.S. Today, only 34% do, according to the Pew Research Center. In Germany, France, Poland, Brazil, South Korea, Mexico and Australia, public sentiment is similarly negative.
Amid World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a rueful observation: “There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.”
The same holds for peacetime: Cooperating with allies usually beats going it alone. But Trump thinks America doesn’t need friends, and he’s doing his best to make sure we don’t have any.
Steve Chapman was a member of the Tribune Editorial Board from 1981 to 2021. His columns, exclusive to the Tribune, now appear the first week of every month. He can be reached at [email protected].
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