With almost frightening energetic, Trump is busy changing the role of the US in the world and he is willing to go for it

« The phone is red -hot, » said Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokesperson. World leaders ‘stumble over their own two feet’ in their almost contact about the import duties. « America, » she said, « other countries needs much less much than other countries need us, and President Trump knows that. »

A superpower can afford a lot of pride, but also a superpower, learned the world again this week, can overshare his hand. A day after Leavitt’s statements, when the flight from American government bonds began to hurt and people became a little « nauseous » and a little « yippy », he had to take back gas, the president said. There are also limits to power for Donald Trump.

One man scoops the world with a nerve -racking chaos. Although the war war is somewhat calmed, but by no means over. The confrontation with China gets out of hand every day, almost every country is still attached to a basic tax of 10 percent and there are still taxes on steel, aluminum and cars, among other things. Ninety days can now be negotiated about the towering so -called reciprocal levies that Trump announced on ‘Liberation Day’. The American consumer has been looking at the highest effective levies since 1903, according to researchers of Yale.

Trump is a political project developer with a lot of construction pits. In the shadow of the tax chaos, the peace talks with Russia and Ukraine seem to have been on a dead end. It has been four weeks since Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire, but the war continues. Trumps negotiator Steve Witkoff would have a third meeting on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

And if China and Russia are not yet eating enough diplomatic energy, the US will open this Saturday in Oman too Discussions with Tehran About the termination of Irans Nuclear program. To reinforce his arguments, Washington has already moved showy bombers and an aircraft carrier.

Countries with a lot of power can use that power in different ways. They can subtly use their power by binding other countries with a mix of threat and reward. In this way they can increase their influence in the long term. After the Second World War, the United States tied Western Europe and a number of countries in Asia-Japan, South Korea, Philippines-and were able to exert influence in regions far from home for decades.

Three -man

Great powers can also use their power to impose their will in raw way to collect an advantage in the short term. With those small victories, a superpower can make a good decorative, but that approach does put bad blood and can eventually bring land to the idea of ​​seeing to other friends.

Donald Trump never does anything sotto voce. He sees nothing in calm consultation and a joint approach. The tax storm was an ill -considered action by a leader who hardly made a distinction between friend and foe. It was, also for Trump, quite a threeth maneuver to attack the whole world in one movement.

And it was also illogical. Because, why Traditional allies in Asia attack With taxes if they could be supporters in the showdown with China at the same time? While Trump became Japan with an input tax, Secretary-General Mark Rutte in Tokyo caught the ties between Japan and NATO with a view to the joint challenge China. Japan, it turned out during that visit, even wants to join the new NATO headquarters Nsatu in Wiesbaden where Western military support for Ukraine is arranged. One goal of Trump – tackling China – was at odds with another: repatriating the manufacturing industry.

The world answered the American attack with three strategies. The vast majority of countries bow to power and are willing to concessions or presents to discuss the taxes. Politicians from Southeast Asia were immediately on the doorstep in Washington last week.

Two major trading partners of the US, Canada and the EU, not only were looking for the conversation, but were also willing to hit back. Brussels responded to the import tax of 20 percent on all products announced on ‘Liberation Day’ by preparing taxes that were an answer to taxes that Trump had launched much earlier. After Trump pulled the emergency brake, the EU was also put on the brake for the time being. The heaviest weapons in a trade conflict remained safe in the arsenal, although committee chairman Ursula von der Leyen promised that the EU will not hesitate to tackle American tech companies if the negotiations with Washington fail.

The EU also made it clear to be very able to trade with the world-minus-de-VS. The EU consults with countries « who are good for 87 percent of world trade and who share the belief in a free and open exchange of goods, services and ideas with us, » said a press release. The US accounts for 13 percent of world trade. This week Brussels made contact with Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and the Emirates. Europe is now happy to present itself as a reasonable alternative to the US.

‘Unilateral harassment’

In this turbulent period, the EU is in any case an attractive partner for European countries who previously liked half remote. In Norway, we are considering accession to the Union and Switzerland is joining a meeting of European Finance Ministers this weekend.

China chose a different approach. Beijing went fulleye to eye. It first answered with 34 percent levies on the 34 percent of Trump, who in turn went by 50 percent, on which China also increased again, which of course could not leave Trump in itself. On Thursday, the counter for Chinese products that enter the US was 125 percent, China raised 84 percent on American goods. On Friday, China also went to 125 percent.

« If you want to talk, the door is open, » said the Chinese Ministry of Trade, « but the dialogue must take place on the basis of equivalent principles and mutual respect. If you want to fight, China will fight to the end. Pressure, threats and blackmail are not the way to deal with China. »

China also contacted others. China called Malaysia, temporarily chairman of the Asian Trade Block Asean, and there were two high -level conversations with the European Commission. A few phone calls do not immediately count into a new alliance between Brussels and Beijing. It was a remarkable thaw between the two large trade blocks that have been upset for years. Ironically, it was partly due to Trump that from 2016 Europe has become increasingly critical of Chinese expansion in Europe.

President Xi Jinping received a visit from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday. A war war has no winners, Xi said on that occasion. Going to the world, he said according to Staatspersbureau Xinhua, only leads to isolation. He called on China and the EU to defend globalization and international trade and jointly oppose ‘unilateral harassment’.

Trumps whimsicality of the last few days raised the question again: can this man still work? In search of support, analysts, entrepreneurs, politicians and diplomats have speculated a lot about what inspires Trump. Is he drunk with power? Has he surrounded by the wrong advisers? Is his blind trust in his own abilities as a dealer in the way? Or is he eventually driven by resentment, by the holy conviction that others have cheated on the US on a large scale and that he has been chosen to correct that injustice – if necessary with a hard hand?

End of the status quo

Analyzing Trumps deeper motives is a slippery path, although he says very often that China, Ukraine, the EU, all countries have actually turned out the US. Only Russia does not mention.

Trump is in any case with almost frightening energeticity to change the role of the US in the world and he is willing to go down.

First he contacted the heads of European leaders contact with Russian leader Vladimir Putin about the war against the Ukraine supported by Europe. He announced that Europe should pay for its own conventional defense in the future because the US wants to have their hands free for the Indo-Pacific, without telling how quickly that switch should take place. Since then there has been great uncertainty about the American role in NATO. Team Trump claims time and time again that the US remains active in the alliance, but many European leaders no longer believe Trump and his people on their word.

The last ten days it was the turn of the world economy and almost all its participants. « It is a turning point with the United States, no doubt possible, » said committee chairman von der Leyen in an interview with the Financial Times. « We will never go back to the status quo. »

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