Latest news with #globalleadership
Wall Street Journal
2 days ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Africa Needs American Generosity
President Trump has made clear that he will put the needs of his country and its citizens first before attending to the needs of the world. No leader of a nation as great as the U.S. could do otherwise. It would be a mistake, however, for Mr. Trump to forget about Africa. In purely material terms, Africa is important to the U.S. because of its natural resources and its bright, entrepreneurial and eager young people. But global leadership involves more than strategic utility—it has a vital humanitarian dimension. What happens in Africa affects the American people.
NHK
31-05-2025
- Business
- NHK
Macron stresses importance of Europe-Asia cooperation at Shangri-La Dialogue
French President Emmanuel Macron has delivered a keynote speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a major defense forum underway in Singapore. He called for new coalitions for open trade and open dialogue to stabilize the rules-based order. Speaking on Friday, Macron noted that the competition for global leadership between China and the United States poses a risk to the international community. He also stressed the importance of cooperation between Europe and Asia. Macron's comments apparently had the tariff measures imposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump in mind, and also Russia's invasion of Ukraine. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is due to give a speech on Saturday. Observers are watching closely for what he says about security challenges in Asia, such as Taiwan and the South China Sea, where Beijing is growing increasingly assertive.
News.com.au
25-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Prince William modernising royal philanthropy
Prince William's vision for the monarchy has increasingly been driven by the desire to shift the dial on global leadership. The Prince and Princess of Wales were praised in Time Magazine's top 100 philanthropists for modernising royal philanthropy.
Japan Times
12-05-2025
- Business
- Japan Times
If China triumphs, America has itself to blame
In 2009, the late political columnist Charles Krauthammer penned an essay of prophetic clarity titled 'Decline is a Choice.' With characteristic incisiveness, he argued that the United States' global preeminence was not succumbing to some inexorable historical entropy but was being eroded by deliberate policy decisions — chiefly those of former President Barack Obama. Decline, Krauthammer insisted, was not fate; it was a choice. Today, that path has been reaffirmed with a fervor and recklessness that the political pundit could scarcely have envisaged. President Donald Trump's second term hasn't merely perpetuated America's retreat from global leadership, it has hastened its atrophy with chaotic zeal, cloaked in a rhetoric that mistakes bombast for strength. Promising to halt China's rise and restore American greatness, Trump has instead handed Beijing a golden opportunity to extend its influence — which the latter is doing with a sophistication and speed that should alarm any discerning observer. The evidence is stark, the irony profound: In his endeavor to make America great again, Trump has accelerated its decline. Stay updated on the trade wars. Quality journalism is more crucial than ever. Help us get the story right. For a limited time, we're offering a discounted subscription plan. Unlimited access US$30 US$18 /mo FOREVER subscribe NOW Consider the trade war, the cornerstone of Trump's economic strategy. Since January, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods have soared to an astonishing 145%, a policy designed to cripple Beijing's economic ascent and reassert American dominance in areas like manufacturing. Yet this audacious gambit risks misfiring spectacularly — echoing the disastrous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which deepened the Great Depression rather than safeguarding U.S. industry. The fallout is unmistakable. Between last March and April, U.S. imports from China plummeted by 64% according to data tracking container ship loads, with the impending prospect of shortages emptying shelves and driving prices skyward. All the while, America's economy contracted — for the first time in three years — in the first quarter of this year. American consumers and businesses — already strained — will bear the brunt, while China deftly redirects its exports to Europe and emerging markets, reducing its reliance on the U.S. Nations like Vietnam and Mexico, caught in the crossfire, haven't fully rallied around Washington's cause but have inched toward Beijing, drawn by the stability it offers in contrast to Trump's tariff roller-coaster. Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Hanoi last month in the wake of the U.S. president's most sweeping tariff announcements, signing a suite of agreements on trade facilitation and supply chain integration with Vietnam. South of the U.S. border, the picture is no less paradoxical. Mexico, long tethered to the American economy, already found itself with Chinese firms setting up shop on its soil aiming to use Mexico as a backdoor into the U.S. market — a fact that Washington's tariff policy is meant to address. Yet, while negotiating a reprieve with the U.S., Mexico's government is also investing in expanding its largest seaport in part to attract more trade with China. Far from containing Beijing, Trump has hastened its further integration into the global economy. Beyond economics, Washington's renewed isolationism has frayed the transatlantic bond that once defined the postwar order. For decades, the European Union has tethered its security and prosperity to the U.S., a partnership forged in the crucible of the 20th century. But Trump's erratic policies and diplomacy veering between belligerence and indifference have left the alliance in tatters. Faced with an unreliable partner, the EU is increasingly looking east, where Beijing presents a compelling alternative — but also a risky one. China's vast market offers some potential respite from Europe's struggle against stagnation: Belt and Road initiative (BRI) projects like the Budapest-Belgrade railway deliver infrastructure and jobs and on climate, the EU and China align on carbon reduction targets, in stark contrast to America reneging on its commitments. Even in technology, Brussels finds Beijing's state-driven approach to artificial intelligence more akin to its own than Washington's laissez-faire stance. The risks of cozying up to an authoritarian regime are evident — moral credibility and autonomy hang in the balance — but in European capitals, pragmatism may prevail over principle when Washington offers only unpredictability. Trump's retreat from global leadership is nowhere more evident than in the renewed withdrawal of the U.S. from the World Health Organization in January, framed as a reprimand for its COVID-19 response. The consequence? A void in global health governance that China has eagerly filled. By providing medical aid and through its vaccine diplomacy — note the stark irony here — Beijing has positioned itself as a cornerstone of international health, winning sway over poorer nations once dependent on American largesse. A shift with implications far beyond 'just' pandemics. Meanwhile, BRI marches forward with relentless ambition. Between 2013 and 2021, China invested $679 billion in infrastructure in 150 countries and this year it pledged a dramatic increase to meet its five-year targets. Chinese-backed railways, nuclear plants and ports are sprouting up across continents, with South America emerging as a key theater. Projects like Peru's Chancay megaport and Ecuador's Coca Codo Sinclair dam address development needs while fostering dependence. Trade agreements, notably for Brazil's soybeans and Chile's minerals, have made China a dominant partner, increasingly overshadowing the U.S. Cultural initiatives such as those carried out by Confucius Institutes and scholarships build goodwill, while military ties with Bolivia and Venezuela signal broader intent. Debt diplomacy, with loans that strain repayments, tightens Beijing's hold. South America, once firmly in the West's sphere, is realigning under China's aegis. Trump's disdain for international cooperation has eroded one of America's greatest assets, its soft power. Once the linchpin of Washington's global influence, it now falters — especially in Western Europe, where esteem for the U.S. has faded with the president's return to power, as emerges from a recent a YouGov poll. But Trump's policies have not only ceded global ground; they have weakened America at home. The trade war's economic fallout risks eroding living standards and the president's polarizing rhetoric deepens divisions, sapping the unity needed to tackle domestic issues and project strength abroad. Some might contend that Trump's tough stance on China is a necessary corrective and that Beijing's rise was inevitable. True, China has been ascendant for some time, but the pace and manner were not predetermined. Trump's chaotic unilateralism hasn't curbed Beijing; it has emboldened it. Others may cite America's military might and alliances as enduring strengths. Yet, military power alone is insufficient — economic and diplomatic clout matter equally, and here China is seeing rapid gains. Meanwhile, Trump's petulance has left alliances frayed, not fortified. American diplomacy under this administration has been a master class in strategic self-sabotage. Trump's willingness to let Russia keep Ukrainian territory — effectively rewarding aggression — in exchange for a ceasefire sends a message of American acquiescence that reverberates far beyond Eastern Europe. It is a signal to Beijing that the U.S. under Trump lacks the resolve to defend its allies or uphold the international order. The parallels to the 1930s are unsettling: A retreating great power, an emboldened dictator and the looming threat to a small democracy. China, ever the student of history, has taken note — Taiwan may now face an accelerated timeline for confrontation. The harm that Trump is causing to the United States' global standing isn't a transient squall but a tectonic shift. With its strategic patience and economic reach, Beijing is poised to define the 21st century. The allies see it, the data confirms it and history will record it not as a victory of foreign foes but a failure of American will. If decline is a choice, then Trump's America has made it twice — and this time, with conviction. Thomas O. Falk is a London-based political commentator and journalist.
Arab News
09-05-2025
- Health
- Arab News
Gates Foundation ‘appreciates' Saudi Arabia's leadership amid global aid funding cuts
LONDON: Saudi Arabia is playing a 'growing global leadership role' as the US and European countries drastically cut foreign aid and development funding, the Gates Foundation CEO told Arab News on Thursday. Speaking as his organization announced a new strategy to give away $200 billion over the next 20 years, Mark Suzman said a planned regional office in Riyadh would help the foundation achieve its long-term goals. He said the foundation, which is chaired by the Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, would continue pursuing the eradication of polio, a campaign that Saudi Arabia has pledged hundreds of million of dollars toward. The Gates Foundation 'deeply appreciated' the leadership shown by the Kingdom 'as some of the traditional donors are pulling back,' Suzman said. The foundation's new timeline was decided long before the Trump administration radically cut foreign aid spending in January, followed by the UK, France and other European countries. In light of those cuts, the foundation is 'very strongly making the case, whether it's in Washington, D.C., or London, or Paris, or Berlin, that with the resources that are still focused on development, it is imperative that they get applied to the highest impact opportunities,' Suzman said. Those opportunities include the Gavi Vaccine Alliance and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — two programs that are estimated to have saved at least 80 million lives in the last 25 years. Suzman said both programs needed replenishing in the coming months and that he hoped even with the fiscal challenges those governments are facing they would still provide funding. 'At the same time, though, we are really appreciative of the way in which not just Saudi Arabia but other countries in the Gulf have been leaning in and showing a much bigger global leadership role,' he added. Another key area the foundation will continue to focus on is polio vaccination campaigns. Last year Saudi Arabia pledged $500 million to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which is heavily supported by Gates. Suzman said he hopes that within three to five years, polio, which is now only endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, will become the second disease after smallpox to be eradicated. 'For us, it's full steam ahead, and we actually hope that will then free up resources, not just from us, but from growing development partners like the Kingdom or like others in the Gulf, such as the UAE and Qatar.' He said those resources could then be reallocated to other areas of global health and development, including agricultural and financial inclusion. During the announcement of the polio campaign funding in April last year, the foundation also said it would open a new Middle East office in Riyadh at the Mohammed Bin Salman Nonprofit City. Suzman said the decision to open a Saudi office was due to the polio partnership but also other areas of cooperation with the Kingdom. The office, which is expected to open early next year, would be part of a growing global network that builds partnerships intended to focus on 'long-term health and development goals,' he said. The foundation also partners with Saudi Arabia on the Lives and Livelihoods Fund, which aims to reduce poverty in Islamic countries. In November, Gates and the Mohammed Bin Salman Foundation, known as Misk, announced the Challenge for Change program to support nonprofits and social enterprises in the Kingdom. A Gates Foundation announcement on Thursday said Bill Gates would dramatically speed up the disbursement of almost all of his fortune. The organization aims to distribute $200 billion by 2045 in what it described as the largest philanthropic commitment in modern history. The foundation would then come to an end. 'People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that 'he died rich' will not be one of them,' Gates said as he marked the foundation's 25th anniversary. He also warned that decades of progress in reducing death rates from disease and poverty would be reversed due to the cuts in aid funding by governments in the US and Europe. 'It's going to be millions more deaths because of the resources,' Gates told Reuters.
