WASHINGTON\/TOKYO\/BRUSSELS: He has launched an unprecedented global tariff war and slashed US foreign aid. He has disparaged NATO allies and embraced Russia\u2019s narrative about its invasion of Ukraine. And he has spoken about annexing Greenland, retaking the Panama Canal and making Canada the 51st state.
\nIn the chaotic first 100 days since President Donald Trump returned to office, he has waged an often unpredictable campaign that has upended parts of the rules-based world order that Washington helped build from the ashes of World War II.
\n\u201cTrump is much more radical now than he was eight years ago,\u201d said Elliott Abrams, a conservative who served under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush before being appointed US special envoy on Iran and Venezuela in Trump\u2019s first term. \u201cI have been surprised.\u201d
\nTrump\u2019s second-term \u201cAmerica First\u201d agenda has alienated friends and emboldened adversaries while raising questions about how far he is prepared to go. His actions, coupled with that uncertainty, have so unnerved some governments that they are responding in ways that could be difficult to undo, even if a more traditional US president is elected in 2028.<\/p>\n
All this comes amid what the Republican president\u2019s critics see as signs of democratic backsliding at home that have raised concerns abroad. These include verbal attacks on judges, a pressure campaign against universities and the transfer of migrants to a notorious El Salvador prison as part of a broader deportation drive.
\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is a huge disruption in world affairs,\u201d said Dennis Ross, a former Middle East negotiator for Democratic and Republican administrations. \u201cNo one is certain at this point what to make of what\u2019s happening or what will come next.\u201d
\nThis assessment of Trump\u2019s shakeup of the global system comes from Reuters interviews with more than a dozen current and former government officials, foreign diplomats and independent analysts in Washington and capitals around the world.
\nMany say that while some of the damage already done could be long-lasting, the situation may not be beyond repair if Trump softens his approach. He has already backtracked on some issues, including the timing and severity of his tariffs.
\nBut they see little chance of a dramatic shift by Trump and instead expect many countries to make lasting changes in their relationships with the US to safeguard against his erratic policy-making.
\nThe fallout has already begun.
\nSome European allies, for instance, are looking to boost their own defense industries to reduce reliance on US weapons. Debate has intensified in South Korea about developing its own nuclear arsenal. And speculation has grown that deteriorating relations could prompt US partners to move closer to China, at least economically.
\nThe White House rejects the notion that Trump has hurt US credibility, citing instead the need to clean up after what it calls former President Joe Biden\u2019s \u201cfeckless leadership\u201d on the world stage.
\n\u201cPresident Trump is taking swift action to address challenges by bringing both Ukraine and Russia to the negotiating table to end their war, stemming the flow of fentanyl and protecting American workers by holding China accountable, getting Iran to the negotiating table by reimposing Maximum Pressure,\u201d White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement.
\nHe said Trump was also \u201cmaking the Houthis pay for their terrorism … and securing our southern border that was open to invasion for four years.\u201d
\nMore than half of Americans, including one in five Republicans, think Trump is \u201ctoo closely aligned\u201d with Russia, and the American public has little appetite for the expansionist agenda he has laid out, according to a Reuters\/Ipsos poll completed on April 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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