As America’s 250th birthday is fast approaching, one should reflect on how America’s place in the world has so vastly changed.
The United States transformed from a new and vulnerable creation on the eastern seaboard of the “New World” to the world’s hegemon, capable of projecting its power across the globe. However, at a time where we celebrate this rise, America is under threat of reversal, not from the imagined suspects of China or Russia but rather a crisis of our own doing.
At the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stood to make a speech that likely many in attendance thought they would never hear. Carney stated the “bargain” of accepting the international rules-based order and, consequently, American hegemony in return for economic prosperity and a relatively peaceful world, “no longer works.” In turn, he stated Canada, once one of America’s firmest allies, will shift away from loyalty to the United States to a strategy based on pragmatism, where “not every partner will share” their values. As Carney left the stage, world leaders gave him a standing ovation, a reflection that this sentiment, which once would’ve been received with gasps, is now widespread.
This change is a reflection of the recent actions of the Trump administration. There is a tendency for supporters of the president to quip he is simply all talk or that his outbursts are just an elaborate ploy to aid negotiations; however, these actions have long-lasting consequences. Tariffing your allies, loudly proclaiming desires over their territory and complaining about the world order America itself created cannot simply be erased.
It does not matter that Trump stated he “won’t use force” to acquire Greenland. The fact the president of the United States had to tell a room full of world leaders he wouldn’t invade his allies shows the damage has already been done.
It is the unfortunate reality that our adversaries don’t need to put much effort into undermining American power. We are doing it all on our own.
