Trump is pushing allies away and closer into each other's arms

Time of India

3 days ago

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New trade deals. Joint sanctions against Israel. Military agreements.The United States ' closest allies are increasingly turning to one another to advance their interests, deepening their ties as the Trump administration challenges them with tariffs and other measures that are upending trade, diplomacy and defense.Concerned by shifting U.S. priorities under President Donald Trump , some of America's traditional partners on the world stage have spent the turbulent months since Trump's January inauguration focusing on building up their direct relationships, flexing diplomatic muscles and leaving the United States aside.This emerging dynamic involves countries such as Britain, France, Canada and Japan -- often referred to by international relations experts as "middle powers" to distinguish them from superpowers such as the United States and China."These are industrialized democracies, allies of the United States, supporting multilateral rules and institutions," said Roland Paris, a professor of international relations and the director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa."And as the international order has been disintegrating, and the United States has been indicating that it's less willing to underwrite it, what we've seen is a shift in the role of middle powers," he added.That role, Paris said, is characterized by the pursuit of "opportunistic and self-interested initiatives that are still collaborative," including a slew of smaller agreements over trade and defense involving European countries and Canada.The efforts of these countries to come closer together as the United States recalibrates its global role and how it treats longtime allies will be on display over the next few days as the Group of 7 major industrialized nations' leaders meet in Alberta, Canada, for their annual summit.The Canadian government, which is presiding over the G7 this year, has also invited the leaders of several other important powers from the developing world, including India, Brazil and Mexico.The organizers are planning bilateral and smaller meetings without the United States, and the event will be the first time since Trump took office that he will confront a large array of traditional U.S. allies that are all on the receiving end of hostility by his administration through tariffs or other kinds of conflict. (In Canada's case, besides tariffs, Trump has also threatened the country's sovereignty.)As a result, experts see the United States as increasingly separate, even isolated, from the structure it has built up and presided over for the past few decades."Should we, in some ways, talk about a G6-plus-one?" said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a Brussels-based senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics."In this situation, where the traditional, core western political and military institutions are being subject to neglect, or contempt, by the Trump administration, the European Union , but also the U.K., Canada, Japan, are going to be looking to strengthen other channels," he added.That has, in fact, been happening in an intensified way.European countries and Canada have been particularly active in seeking new, deeper ways to collaborate.The European Union and Britain held a summit in May that was billed as a reset of relations after Britain's exit from the bloc in 2020. They reached a deal that included an extension of fishing rights for EU countries in British waters, more access to European markets for British meat sellers and a major defense and security agreement.Canada and Britain have also been pushing to increase military collaboration with the European Union, as it rolls out a 150 billion euro (about $171 billion) lending program to boost defense investment. Both nations are working toward completing the prerequisites needed to fully participate in the program as a military supplier.The situation with the United States "calls for the EU to try to reinforce its political and trade negotiations with other nations," said Ignacio García Bercero, a nonresident fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels think tank, and a former top trade negotiator at the European Commission.The flurry of activity among such nations is not limited to trade. They are also working together on diplomatic issues where American support has wavered.This week, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Norway together imposed a travel ban and froze financial assets of two far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers in a rare coordinated action by Western powers over the conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip.In May, Britain, France and Canada had also issued a harshly worded statement on Israel decrying the humanitarian situation in Gaza.The push for greater cooperation has not been limited to traditionally allied nations. The European Union, for instance, has been working to expand its trade deals with economies around the world, from India to South American nations."We negotiate," Maros Sefcovic, the EU trade commissioner, said in a recent post on social media, in what has become a regular refrain for the bloc. "We do not isolate."Still, leaders around the world remain adamant that the United States -- with its immense economy and developed military technologies -- cannot simply be written out of the trading and defense system. Instead, they are working to diversify so that they will be less reliant on the United States.The goal, ultimately, was not to replace the United States as a partner but to make the relationship with America less risky.This is particularly true of Canada, which is so permanently and deeply bound to the United States that it would be essentially impossible for it to abandon that relationship altogether in favor of closer ties with Europe.Ultimately, the growing hostility of the Trump administration to its traditional trading and military partners could produce an enduring shift among longtime allies to the exclusion of the largest and most powerful economy in the world."These are countries that share the broad policy goal of predictable, rules-based international affairs -- obviously a goal that is no longer shared by the Trump administration," Kirkegaard said."America first means America first," he added, "even if it means America more alone."