If Trump could create such a havoc even before assuming the Presidency, only time will tell us what happens after January 20
by Prasad Nallapati*
US President-elect Donald Trump has set his cats among the pigeons sending shock waves across the Western world. Many of their top leaders are running for shelter to avoid getting caught in his cross hairs, despite his official inauguration is still several days away.
Trudeau, The Latest Victim
His latest victim is Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has little choice but to resign having lost confidence of his party colleagues in handling Trump’s tariff threats that would further exacerbate the country’s already fragile economy.
Trudeau had made a dash to Florida to placate Trump, soon after the latter’s threats to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian imports on the very first day of his inauguration, and offered an array of policy concessions including strengthening border security.
What he got in turn were a series of insults. Trump publicly mocked Trudeau, belittling him as the “governor” of Canada, as if his country were merely a state of the US Federation.
“Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State. The United States can no longer suffer the massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat,” the incoming president wrote on his social media post.
“Justin Trudeau knew this, and resigned. If Canada merged with the US, there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!”
Trudeau’s trusted deputy and finance minister Chrystia Freeland resigned from the post soon after his return from Florida, complaining that the Prime Minister was “insufficiently prepared for the Trump administration.” Her resignation opened flood gates for others to follow.
European Leaders Run `Helter-Skelter’
Trump has been a `rallying cry’ for many far-right activists and ultra-nationalists across Europe, particularly for “Alternative for Democracy” (AfD) party in Germany. The latter has made significant gains in regional elections marking the first time in post world war II German history. Their leaders were in attendance at Trump’s victory celebrations at his Florida home on election day.
With general elections due next month in Germany, Trump’s adviser and co-chair of a new US Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk, has formally endorsed the AfD and is hosting its co-chair Alice Weidel livestream on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter). He described her party “the last spark of hope for this country,” in an op-ed in a prominent German paper.
His daily tweets in favour of the party amounts to direct intervention in electoral process but European leaders are frozen to be able to take counter measures. They are instead defensive as many of their skeletons in the closet are falling off.
Much of Musk’s wrath, however, is directed toward British Prime Minister Keir Starmer whom he accused of being complicit in protecting “serial” child rapists during the latter’s stint as the UK’s chief prosecutor over a decade ago.
Musk posted on Monday a message on his X feed, saying “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.”
His X feed in the last few days was dominated by postings critical of Starmer for not doing enough to prosecute gangs made up mostly of Muslim men of Pakistani origin who had groomed and raped more than a thousand young girls in towns across Britain.
A landmark inquiry into the scandal in Rotherham by Prof Alexis Jay came to the “conservative” estimate that 1,400 children had been exploited in the town alone between 1997 and 2013, predominately by men of Pakistani origin.
The right-wing wave surging through Europe also finds its resonance in Austria, where its hard-right Freedom Party (FPO) won the country’s general election in September polling 29% of the vote, ahead of the ruling conservation Austrian People’s Party (26.5%) and Social Democrats (21%).
With the latter two failing to form a coalition government, Herbert Kickl, leader of the FPO is now called to try form the government. He is opposed to sanctions against Russia, and advocates closing borders and remigrating foreigners.
While the party was part of ruling coalitions earlier, this is the first time in Austria’s post world war II history that the right wing party may be leading the government. The party was set up by former Nazis.
Besides the regime change plans, Western allies are also troubled by Team Trump’s outraging demands seeking transfer of ownership of some strategic islands and waterways from their control. His elder son, Don Jr, landed in Greenlands on Tuesday apparently to prepare ground for negotiations.
The strategic island, a former colony of Denmark, gained self-rule status in 1979 though its foreign and defense policies are still controlled by Copenhagen.
Trump’s remark refusing to rule out using military force to seize control of the island, as well as the Panama Canal, has further enraged Denmark and Panama which have declared that the sovereignty of these regions is non-negotiable.
China’s Yuan Decline to 17-Year Lows
The Chinese currency, Yuan, came under heavy downward pressure on expectation of stronger US dollar and Trump’s tariffs to come.
The Yuan was trading at 17-year lows on Monday as other major Asian currencies, including Indian Rupee, also slid, with the US dollar trading at two-year highs.
This has forced Beijing regulators to convene in a bid to reassure nervous investors selling Shanghai and Shenzhen shares, according to the Wall Street Journal. Officials at both exchanges stressed that China’s US $17 trillion economy is underpinned by “solid fundamentals and resilience.”
“…China stares over the precipice of a deflationary lost decade. This is the message from equity markets, with Chinese stocks having begun the year in a funk,” says Louis Gave, economist at Gavekal Research.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon on Monday added a number of well-known Chinese businesses to a list of companies it identifies as military in nature.
Among the new names on the list of more than 50 business groups and their subsidiaries are China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), Cosco Shipping, Sinotrans & CSC Holdings, China International Marine Containers, Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), Quectel Wireless Solutions, Sense Time Group, and Tencent Holdings, which owns WeChat.
US Congressmen, particularly those from Trump’s Republican Party, have been putting pressure on the Pentagon to expand the list as they look for ways to slow China’s military advances.
If Trump could create such a havoc even before assuming the Presidency, only time will tell us what happens after January 20.
(*Prasad Nallapati is President of the Hyderabad-based think-tank, “Deccan Council for Strategic Studies”, and former Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, Govt of India)
