#economic-coercion

#economic-coercion

The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, inspired a wave of enthusiastic nodding among the cosmopolitan crowd gathered in Davos last month when he took to the podium and proclaimed that the world order underwritten by the United States, which prevailed in the west throughout the postwar era, was over. The organizing principle that emerged from the ashes of the second world war, that interdependence would promote world peace by knitting nations' interests together in a drive for common security and prosperity, no longer works.

The urge to visit Beijing has gotten stronger lately among allies of the United States. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who referred to China last year as his country's biggest security threat, made the trip last month, as did his British counterpart, Keir Starmer. Next week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who heads the largest economy in Europe, plans to meet with Xi Jinping during a three-day visit packed with discussions of security and trade.

Trump stunned Europe on Saturday when he vowed to slap EU members Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden -- and non-members Britain and Norway -- with levies of up to 25 percent unless the Danish territory is ceded to the United States. French President Emmanuel Macron has raised the prospect of hitting back with the EU's trade weapon, that was established in 2023 but has never been activated.

Trump stunned Europe on Saturday when he vowed to slap EU members Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden -- and non-members Britain and Norway -- with levies of up to 25 percent unless the Danish territory is ceded to the United States. French President Emmanuel Macron has raised the prospect of hitting back with the EU's trade weapon, that was established in 2023 but has never been activated.

He has refused to rule out using military force to take control of Greenland and repeatedly floated the idea of making Canada the 51st state. He threatened to seize the Panama canal. He has imposed swingeing tariffs on key partners, and says he might abandon the Canada-Mexico trade pact signed in his first term. He has meddled outrageously in elections in Honduras and Argentina, and sought to interfere with Brazilian justice.

On September 2, United States President Donald Trump released grainy footage of a missile obliterating a fishing boat off Venezuela's coast. Eleven people died instantly. The administration called them narcoterrorists. Venezuelan sources identified them as fishermen. Since then, the US military has conducted at least 22 strikes, killing 87 people, with investigations revealing that the first attack included a second strike to kill two survivors clinging to wreckage a potential war crime under international law.