Trump’s blundering smartphone diplomacy is pushing US allies into the arms of Beijing
At what point does short-term gain become long-term disadvantage? It’s an important question for both individuals and nations to ask themselves, and one that I’ve been thinking about since returning a week ago from Greenland (where a Monocle team was reporting on the crisis over the island’s sovereignty).
In several ways, the farrago over Greenland typified this age of smartphone diplomacy, in which our capacity to think far ahead of the present moment is under 24-hour, synapse-shredding assault. High-level negotiations used to be conducted in person, by letter or via phone calls – and mostly behind closed doors. As such, civility and careful persuasion were the most effective tools for getting what one wanted. Now, when so much of it is done in front of billions, nuance is almost impossible. And we, as observers, aren’t blameless: just over a week after the threat of war over Greenland subsided, how many of us are already craving the next dopamine hit? Could it come from the US armada heading towards Iran? Tune in next week to find out.
Current US foreign policy might be successful in keeping the world on the edge of its seat and ratings (or at least “impressions”) sky-high – but the result will ultimately be a waning of American hegemony. Already, erstwhile allies are moving to decouple from the unpredictable giant. As Trump was threatening to annex Greenland, Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, whose country is home to several of America’s largest overseas military bases, was gearing up for his first official visit to China later this month. Last week the UK prime minister, traditionally seen as the US president’s closest fellow leader, was also inspecting a guard of honour in the Great Hall of the People. China is openly recognised as the number-one challenger to US pre-eminence so why is Trump working day and night to push the rest of the world into its arms?
And so, to the matter of Greenland. In the past, the US would have recognised that the best way to achieve its objectives was through the soft power of its culture and economic might. United Airlines recently began the first non-stop commercial flight between the territory and the US. Though only six months’ old, the summertime bi-weekly Newark to Nuuk route was already encouraging an exchange of understanding (and greenbacks) that would have done much to win Greenlanders round to the US. Most of the business owners who I spoke to in Nuuk said that while they hated America’s government, they liked its tourists. Unfortunately, it is with the US government that Greenland’s leaders will be renegotiating the 1951 defence agreement that governs the territory. As every bully in history could have told Trump, intimidation might quickly gain you acquiescence but it will cost you goodwill in the end.
A failure by those leading the world to look beyond their social-media feeds is fuelling our collective dizziness. It’s also why Mark Carney’s speech at Davos was so good. Besides being well written and delivered, it articulated a far-sighted vision for the world, while refusing to shy away from hard truths. The gratefulness with which it has been received around the world and across the political spectrum shows how many of us are craving this kind of thinking.
At Monocle, we try to cultivate a similarly digested and non-hysterical view. It can be seen in our coverage of business, culture, design, fashion, travel, hospitality and, yes, global politics. While in the Greenlandic capital, rather than merely doing live hits with snowy backdrops, we spoke to locals about their culture, their businesses and also (because we had to) their views of Donald Trump. After the inevitable rolling-on of the media circus, it is these impressions that remain – and these people, who will hopefully define the future of Greenland.
Alexis Self is Monocle’s foreign editor. For more about how Mark Carney’s speech stole the show in Davos, click here.
