The tensions between President Donald Trump and America’s allies over Washington’s unpredictable trade policies, exacerbated by the recent military action in Venezuela and Trump’s repeated threats of taking over Greenland, reached the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney laid out in blunt detail what many countries that benefited from a US-led strategic alliance now believe.
In a brutally honest assessment of the emerging position in Europe and the broader West, Carney described the current chaos
The tensions between President Donald Trump and America’s allies over Washington’s unpredictable trade policies, exacerbated by the recent military action in Venezuela and Trump’s repeated threats of taking over Greenland, reached the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney laid out in blunt detail what many countries that benefited from a US-led strategic alliance now believe.
In a brutally honest assessment of the emerging position in Europe and the broader West, Carney described the current chaos as a “rupture” of the world order, not a transition, and the start of great power geopolitics sans limits. While Carney made no mention of Trump, he left little doubt about what is causing this rupture. Carney emphasised that as the rules-based order fades, the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must, the “middle powers must act together, because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu”. These middle powers, he suggested, can focus on multilateralism to build coalitions against challenges ranging from energy and technology to security and the climate crisis so that they aren’t forced to choose between hegemons. There was also an acknowledgment that the old order was “partially false” in the application of international law and the rules — an opinion that India has consistently expressed.
Carney’s assessment, coinciding with similar statements from French President Emmanuel Macron (“we do prefer respect to bullies”) and other European leaders suggest a broader shift in the approach towards the US. Trump’s response to the criticism, delivered at Davos on Wednesday, was to say that Europe was not headed in the right direction. Amid this chaos, China has sought to position itself as the lynchpin of a stable, alternative order — Carney stopped over in Beijing to strike a trade arrangement before arriving in Davos — and stepped up efforts to expand its diplomatic and political influence, especially in the Global South. It has also sought to shape norms for the emerging order, such as its concept of “common security”, and present itself as a champion of non-interference.
All of this will have far-reaching consequences for India, a key beneficiary of the US-led order in the past two decades, and a beneficiary of the perception that it could be a foil to China. Many of the dynamics that made this possible have changed (or are changing), but this could still be a moment for New Delhi to leverage its consistent stance of refusing to ally with great powers and bat for a multipolar world and collective action, while holding fast, without compromise, to its national and strategic interests.
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