Washington … Is It Turning Its Back to the World?

President Donald Trump has placed the U.S. in one hand, and the rest of the international community in another. Based on the rhetoric of “America First,” President Trump has established negative positions on many international alliances including NATO, the European Union, the Paris Agreement, NAFTA (which governs U.S. trade relations with Mexico and Canada) and others. The world has realized that “Trump policy” is not just a fleeting policy. This is the new strategy for the United States until further notice. The great powers have thus begun to reconsider their relations because of this new reality. It has been proved that “America First” is not merely an election campaign slogan, but a political principle on which U.S. policy is basing its relations with the world.

With this realization, new international political-economic movements have been created to deal with the new reality. These new movements or organizations are the following: The “Democracies 10” or D10. It includes political and strategic thinkers from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan, Australia and South Korea, as well as the United States itself. The organization will hold its next meeting in Seoul, South Korea this month. The subject of research is the new global role of the United States and its danger to the world order, the United States having stabilized things since the end of World War II. President Trump described Europe as “a foe.” The president of the European Council said, “With friends like that, who needs enemies?”

Then there is the Democratic Order Initiative. This organization was launched in Berlin last June. It includes former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Stephen Hadley, security adviser to former U.S. President Barack Obama, former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bild and Yoriko Kawaguchi, former Japanese minister of foreign affairs. It announced its mission to work internationally with governments, parliaments and civil society organizations to raise public awareness of the dangers represented by the undemocratic changes that undermine the rules of the current world order.

The Alliance of Democracies Foundation aims to strengthen the rules of democracy in the world. It is led by former Secretary General of NATO Anders Rasmussen, who previously served as prime minister of Denmark. This organization held a summit this past June in the Danish capital. “The future of humanity depends on the ability to resist deviations from the principles of democracy,” Rasmussen said.

The Paris Peace Forum was launched by French President Emmanuel Macron. The conference called for its next meeting in mid-November of 2018 in Paris and includes representatives of governments and civil society organizations. At this meeting, they will discuss global issues in light of the new trajectories. This is an initiative against American and European populism altogether. It seeks to maintain international amity separate from the American regress.

The new Australian-Japanese harmony, ranging from military defense to trade, is occurring independently of the United States. This is the first action of such caliber by U.S. allies in East Asia to occur behind the United States’ back, or at least without U.S. participation. Japan signed an agreement with the European Union to eliminate most customs duties on goods exchanged, meaning that the world’s largest free economy with 600 million people constitutes one-third of global income. The European Intervention Initiative was signed by nine countries in June, including Britain and Germany. Under this agreement, the signatories will undertake coordinated military intervention to deal with crises, even without American participation.

The Lima Group was created between Canada and 16 South American countries as a direct response to President Trump’s withdrawal from NAFTA and his defamatory stance on Latin American countries as being a source of immigrants and troubles within the U.S.

The American retreat has reached its limit, so now the world (where is the Arab world?) is rearranging its affairs independently of the Trump administration. This presented the BRICS community of Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa with a role in shaping the new world order that had previously been expected. The question remains: Will these initiatives succeed? Can a new world order be isolated from the United States?