Trump stirs talk of 'new world order' as leaders signal shifting global
alliances
[January 24, 2026]
By STEVEN SLOAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump gives. And he takes away.
Offended by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's increasingly assertive
posture toward the U.S., Trump revoked an invitation to join his Board
of Peace. Many Western allies are suspicious of the organization, which
is chaired by Trump and was initially formed to focus on maintaining the
ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas but has grown into something
skeptics fear could rival the United Nations.
Appearing at the World Economic Forum, Trump spoke of imposing tariffs
on Switzerland — which he ultimately lowered — because the country's
leader “rubbed me the wrong way” during a phone call. Before shelving
sweeping tariffs on multiple European countries, Trump pressed Denmark
to “say yes” to the U.S. push to control Greenland “and we will be very
appreciative. Or you can say no and we will remember,” he said,
imperiling the NATO alliance.
Over his decades in public life, Trump has never been one for niceties.
But even by his standards, the tumult of the past week stood out because
it crystallized his determination to erase the rules-based order that
has governed U.S. foreign policy — and by extension most of the Western
world — since World War II.
The president and his supporters have dismissed that approach as
inefficient, overly focused on compromise and unresponsive to the needs
of people contending with rapid economic change. But in its place, Trump
is advancing a system that is poorly understood and could prove far less
stable, driven by the whims of a single, often mercurial, leader who
regularly demonstrates that personal flattery or animus can shape his
decisions.
Returning to the U.S. from Davos, home to the World Economic Forum,
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said the phrase she heard “over
and over” was that “we are entering this new world order” as she
described a sense of confusion among allies.
“It may be you just had a bad telephone call with the president and now
you're going to have tariffs directed at you,” she told reporters. “This
lack of stability and reliability, I think, is causing what were
traditionally reliable trade partners to be saying to other countries,
‘Hey, maybe you and I should talk because I’m not sure about what’s
going on with the United States.’”
The Trump-centric approach to governing
The Trump-centric approach to governing is hardly surprising for someone
who accepted his first Republican presidential nomination in 2016 by
declaring that “I alone can fix” the nation's problems. As he settles
into his second term with a far more confident demeanor than his first,
he has delighted supporters with his to-the-victor -goes-the-spoils
style.
Steve Bannon, Trump's former adviser, recently told the Atlantic that
Trump is pursuing a “maximalist strategy” and that he must keep going
“until you meet resistance.”
“And we haven’t met any resistance,” Bannon said.
That's certainly true in Washington, where the Republican-controlled
Congress has done little to check Trump's impulses. But leaders of other
countries, who have spent much of Trump's administration trying to find
ways to work with him, are increasingly vocal.
Carney is quickly emerging as a leader of a movement for countries to
find ways to link up and counter the U.S. Speaking in Davos ahead of
Trump, Carney said, “Middle powers must act together because if you are
not at the table, you are on the menu.”
“In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a
choice: to compete with each other for favor or to combine to create a
third path with impact,” he continued. “We should not allow the rise of
hard powers to blind us to the fact that the power of legitimacy,
integrity, and rules will remain strong — if we choose to wield it
together.”
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President Donald Trump speaks during a Board of Peace charter
announcement during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum
in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Trump did not take kindly to those remarks, responding with threats
in Davos before yanking the Board of Peace invitation.
“Canada lives because of the United States,” Trump said. “Remember
that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
Some leaders are pushing back
Carney, however, was unbowed, speaking of Canada as “an example to a
world at sea” as he crafted a potential template for other world
leaders navigating a new era.
“We can show that another way is possible, that the arc of history
isn’t destined to be warped toward authoritarianism and exclusion,”
he said in a speech before a cabinet retreat in Quebec City.
In the UK, Prime Minister Keir Starmer blasted Trump on Friday for
“insulting and frankly appalling” comments in which he expressed
doubt that NATO would support the U.S. if requested. The president
seemingly ignored that the only time Article 5 of NATO’s founding
treaty, which requires all member countries to help another member
under threat, was invoked was after the 9/11 attacks on the U.S.
Referring to non-US troops, Trump told Fox Business Network, “You
know, they’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or
that, and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the
front lines.”
Starmer, noting the 457 British personnel who died and those with
life-long injuries, said he will “never forget their courage, their
bravery and the sacrifice they made for their country.” Denmark,
which Trump has belittled as “ungrateful” for U.S. protection during
World War II, had the highest per capita death toll among coalition
forces in Afghanistan.
His tactics have raised fears that Trump is imposing long-term
damage on the U.S. standing in the world and encouraging countries
to rethink their alliances and deepen their ties with China. Carney
already traveled there earlier this month to meet with President Xi
Jinping.
“China’s leadership watched an American president fight with allies,
insult world leaders, and engage in bizarre antics, and thought to
themselves — this is nothing but good for us,” Jake Sullivan, former
President Joe Biden's national security adviser, said in an email.
The administration is showing no sign of backing down. In a social
media post referring to Canada's ties with Beijing, Trump said China
“will eat them up.” And the Pentagon released a defense strategy
late Friday telling allies to handle their own security.
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a Democrat on the Foreign Relations
Committee, was in Davos and participated in a bipartisan delegation
to Denmark with Murkowski that was intended to show unity amid
Trump's bid for Greenland. Recalling his conversations with other
leaders, he told reporters on Friday that Trump has shown he only
backs down when countries like China “showed toughness and a
resiliency.”
“Those who were accommodating and who negotiated in good faith, like
the EU, which did not impose retaliatory tariffs, seemed to have not
won any of his respect,” Coons said. “They can reach their own
conclusions, but it would seem to me that trying to find a way to
accommodate him when the foundation of his demands about Greenland
is unhinged … seem to me to suggest a course of action.”
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Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, Rob Gillies
in Toronto and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.
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