Trump’s New World Disorder: A Gift to Russia, A Betrayal to Allies

Instead of standing with allies, Trump is cutting deals with dictators—handing Putin and Xi exactly what they want.

Source: ChatGPT (Obvs)

If it is challenging to keep up with the torrent of news, try being a journalist attempting to channel the flow. Try to understand the dismantling of the USAID and the countless deaths that will inevitably follow, and you will be distracted by Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, selling out New York City to keep himself out of jail. And yet, the most distressing story, at the moment anyway, is how Donald Trump has thrown the world’s balance of power into chaos.

A month ago, I met with business leaders worldwide in Davos and imagined how AI would transform the world. Since then, the U.S. has threatened our closest economic partners with trade wars, rebuffed our European allies, and called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator.” Things change fast.

If you thought Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be the adult in the room, think again. Before negotiations even began, Team Trump gave Putin several major wins: ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine, rejecting U.S. peacekeeping forces, and recognizing Russia’s territorial gains as a baseline for talks. Concessions like these usually come in exchange for something significant. Instead, Washington gave them away for free. That’s not deal-making—that’s caving.

Before writing this folly off to incompetence, consider the craven motives. Trump says the U.S. has given $300B for the war in Ukraine. The number is $175B, with more than $70B spent producing weapons right here in the U.S. (The U.S. leads the world in arms manufacturing, with $318B in revenue going to the top five firms in 2023 alone.) Some In exchange, Trump wants to get paid back with interest.

Trump recently said, “I told them that I want the equivalent of like $500 billion worth of rare earth (minerals), and they’ve essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.”

As the Eurasia Group’s Ian Bremmer recently noted, “These terms amounted to a higher share of Ukrainian GDP than the reparations imposed on Germany by the Versailles Treaty.”

This isn’t just about Ukraine. This is about every country that has counted on the U.S. for security. The message is clear: if you’re looking for American leadership, you’d better start looking elsewhere. Unfortunately, both Russia and China seem more than willing to oblige.

If Trump is right about anything, Europe cannot overcome the challenge. The UK is willing to send troops, but only if the U.S. backs them (which it won’t). Germany won’t send troops; neither will Poland. The Baltic and Nordic states are game but don’t have the numbers. Neither does France. Without a credible U.S. military commitment—logistics, intelligence, air support—any European-led security guarantee for Ukraine is little more than wishful thinking.

This moment is bigger than Ukraine. It’s about whether the U.S. can still be trusted to stand by its allies. If Washington can negotiate away another country’s sovereignty with no real pushback, what stops it from doing the same elsewhere? Taiwan, the Baltics, Israel—every U.S. partner is now recalculating what its alliances are worth.

Trump promised to put “America First.” Instead, he’s putting America in league with tyrants. If our isolation leads to an emboldened Russia, an even more fractured Europe, and a retreat from global leadership, history will not look kindly on the bargain.