It’s not just about Europeans.
In a speech likely to be considered historic, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney gave perhaps the most striking expression yet of what he called “a rupture, not a transition” in the geopolitical landscape.
“We know that the old order will not return. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy,” he said bluntly on Tuesday in Davos. “Great powers,” he said, “have begun to use economic integration as a weapon, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited. »
Carney also used his speech to say out loud what many consider the silent part: that the ideas behind this Western-dominated world were often “useful” fiction. The United States and its allies have often applied a selective version of those rules, exempting itself “when appropriate,” he said.
Digging through the rubble of World War II, Western powers created multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Generally speaking, U.S. governments accepted that investments in these projects would pay dividends in terms of global influence, thereby protecting U.S. interests abroad.
The result, for the United States and Europe, is what remains the world’s most closely linked military, economic and cultural bond. They have the largest bilateral trade relations in the world, worth approximately $1.966 trillion. This means that more than $5 billion worth of goods and services actually cross the Atlantic Ocean every day, representing 30% of global trade.
While Europe relies heavily on American power, with American troops, equipment and nuclear missiles stationed at bases across the continent, it is also true that European components are essential in American military equipment, such as Norwegian-made missiles and the British ejection seat aboard the F-35 fighter jet.
For some European officials and experts, Trump’s behavior has irrevocably changed the dynamics of this bond.
Trump celebrated his first anniversary in office on Tuesday, showing no signs of backing down from Greenland.Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesSome have attempted to use deference, even flattery, to counter Trump’s hostile policies and rhetorical overtures. There seems to be a growing acceptance of what went wrong.
If the United States used military force to drive Denmark out of Greenland, the concept of NATO would effectively disappear. The president says he needs to control the island for national security reasons, to prevent Russia and China from taking it over – although his claims have been rejected by European officials and many analysts.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News on the comments from Von der Leyen, Carney and others.
But Trump’s threat of tariffs has already shaken Europe.
“So far we have tried to appease the new president,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever said at a roundtable in Davos. “But now so many red lines have been crossed that you must choose your self-respect. Being a happy vassal is one thing. Being an unhappy slave is quite another.”
Europe has for years played a good game in freeing itself at least from American military dependence, but it remains to be seen what it does now.
Canada, meanwhile, is forging a “new strategic partnership” with China, leading many analysts to observe that Trump’s policies could push its allies into the arms of Beijing.
Carney called on so-called “middle powers,” like his own, to “stop invoking the ‘rules-based international order’ as if it still works as advertised.”
But he said: “We believe that from the divide we can build something better, stronger, more just. »
Alexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.
