Donald Trump’s bruising return to the White House has sent many longtime foreign allies scrambling to get their distance, and according to a new piece from The Atlantic, that distance will last long after Trump is gone.
Trump’s second term as president has been marked by notable and widespread disrespect toward nations once seen as close U.S. allies. Between his attempts to level massive tariffs against nearly every nation in the world and his frequent breaches of diplomatic norms, Trump has created a hostile global environment in which allies no longer feel safe trusting in the stability of the U.S.
In a new piece for The Atlantic on Tuesday, staff writer Vivian Salama argued that this new dynamic, in which the nations of the world are working to establish a safe distance from the U.S., is bound to become the new normal for years to come, even after Trump leaves office and is potentially replaced by a more traditional, dependable administration.
It happens more slowly than you might think.
Here in Australia the US has been our major ally since WWII and is generally seen as the enforcer holding off Chinese expansion in our region.
When the tariffs were announced ours were minimal and largely to our benefit anyway.
The general feeling was, the Americans are having a bad day, but we can weather that to maintain our long term relationship.
We have an agreement with the UK and US to build nuclear submarines, which would be helpful in maintaining control in south east Asia. This is a long term strategy with many billions involved, likely to stimulate entire regions in Australia. However, the arrangement is looking very unappealing presently and no one actually believes the US will deliver on their end.
I think the summary is, everyone knows that Trump is not a reliable partner but he will be dead soon, and these relationships run pretty deep.
But you can’t rely on the US being a reliable partner at all then. In 4 years the citizens could just vote in someone just as unreliable as Trump who will throw away previous agreements on a whim. They’ve already done it twice, and it’s clear the US has no mechanism in place to make sure it holds to previous agreements.
Perhaps another way to say the same thing … other sane governments are reliable partners, and it’s worth upholding the agreements we have made for the moment, while we make other plans.