Trump's problems in foreign policy grow steadily
Trump's problems in foreign policy grow steadily
Every president is convinced that they can change the world - and Donald Trump has an even more pronounced feeling for personal omnipotence than its predecessors. But it is not exactly optimal for the 47th president. Trump may intimidate the large technology companies and try to influence institutions such as the Harvard University and judge through government power, but some heads of state are more difficult to blackmail.
The challenges of power
Wladimir Putin, the President of Russia, continues to ignore and humiliate Trump. The Russian president deliberately questions the efforts of the United States to end war in Ukraine. Russian media now show Trump as one who speaks in a large extent, but never draws the consequences.
The illusion of influence in China
Trump was convinced that he could form China according to his will by confronting himself with guide Xi Jinping in a trade war. But he misunderstood China's politics. An authoritarian leader in Beijing can never bow to a US president. US officials now express frustration that China has not complied with the obligations that should contribute to the de-escalation of the trade conflict.
dubbing tactics towards the EU
Similar to China, Trump pulled back his threats in the customs war towards the European Union. A comment by Robert Armstrong in the Financial Times, which the term Taco-handel-"Trump always chickens out"- President for white glow.
political challenges in the Middle East
Many assumed that Trump would be on a wavelength with Benjamin Netanyahu. After all, he offered the Israeli Prime Minister almost everything he wanted during his first term. But now, while he tries to convey peace in the Middle East, Trump realizes that he only extends the Gaza conflicts what is politically existential for Netanyahu-similar to Putin in Ukraine. Trump's ambitions for an Iranian nuclear agreement are opposed to the Israeli plans to take advantage of the strategic weakness of the Islamic Republic.
global power games and personal relationships
strong leaders pursue their own ideas of national interest, which exist in a parallel reality and move on other historical and actual timelines than the shorter, transactional efforts of American presidents. Most are not susceptible to personal appeals without consideration. After Trumps, to humiliate the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, the charm of the White House disappears.
Trump's place in history
Trump spent months on the campaign parquet by bragging about his “very good relationship” to Putin or XI, profound geopolitical and economic problems between the global powers, which may be insoluble. He is by no means the first US president to suffer from such illusions. President George W. Bush once looked into the eyes of the Kremlin Tyrant and "got a feeling for his soul". President Barack Obama assessed Russia as a decaying regional power and once described Putin as "bored boys in the back of the classroom". This view had a negative impact when the bored boy annexed the Crimea.
The influence of the Americans in the 21st century
In the broader sense, all Presidents of the 21st century acted as if they were men of fate. Bush came into office with the aim of not acting as a global policeman. But the attacks of September 11, 2001 made him exactly for that. He started wars in Afghanistan and Iraq wars that the United States won but lost peace. His failed second official goal of democratizing the Arab world also lost.
a new way under bidges?
Obama tried to apologize for the global war against terror, and traveled to Egypt to tell the Muslims that it was time for "a new beginning". His early presidency pulsed with the feeling that his charisma and unique background would virtually represent a global elixir. Joe Biden toured the world and announced that "America was back" after he had pushed Trump out of the White House. But four years later, partly because of his own catastrophic decision to run for a second term, America - or at least the international version after the Second World War - was disappearing again, and Trump was back.
Trump's legacy and the future of the USA
Trump's “America First” populism is based on the premise that the United States has been disadvantaged for decades, regardless of that its alliances and the design of global capitalism have made it the most powerful nation in the history of the planet. While he tries to appear as a strong male that everyone has to obey, he wastes this heritage and destroys the American soft power - i.e. the ability to convince - with his aggressive attitude. The first four months of Trump's presidency, with his customs threats, warnings of territorial expansion in Canada and Greenland as well as the erosion of global humanitarian aid programs, show that the rest of the world also has a say in the event. So far, the leaders in China, Russia, Israel, Europe and Canada seem to have recognized that Trump is not as powerful as he believes that there is no price for his disregard or that their own domestic policy is necessary.