Some of the US’s closest allies, including Canada and the UK, are warning that the international system of security and trade championed by western powers for more than 70 years is broken beyond repair – and that it’s up to Europe to fashion a new global order.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, who earlier this year warned that the rules-based order was dead, implored dozens of leaders meeting in Armenia on Monday not to submit to a more “transactional, insular and brutal world”.
“It’s my strong personal view that the international order will be rebuilt, but it will be rebuilt out of Europe,” Carney said at the European Political Community meeting in Yerevan.
Global leaders are reassessing their relationships with the US as President Donald Trump pursues an abrasive “America First” policy that has strained traditional alliances forged in the aftermath of World War II. He imposed broad tariffs on the rest of the world, repeatedly undercut Nato partners, and threatened to seize Greenland, a territory of Denmark.
“There’s a moral imperative to build a more prosperous and just world,” Carney said. “The rules are not constraining the hegemons.”
Europeans are still dependent on the US for their security – and it may take more than ten years for European Nato members to bolster their defence sector, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence analysis. Furthermore, the 15 largest European members of the alliance may need to ramp up investment by as much as €290-to-615 billion annually.
Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Luc Frieden arriving at the 8th European Political Community (EPC) summit in Yerevan on 4 May © Photo credit: AFP
Many American allies are now looking to join forces in an effort to consolidate strength and reject the turn toward hard-power politics by the US and China as the established order gradually breaks down.
Carney joined nearly 50 leaders from mostly European countries at the summit, which was dominated by discussion of issues including democratic resilience and economic security. It was the first time a leader from a non-European country was invited.
The Canadian prime minister has championed creating new alliances among mid-sized countries to counter pressure tactics and intimidation by the world’s great powers. He joins a growing number of European leaders who have started to speak out more forcefully against Trump.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has been the most outspoken critic of Trump in the European Union, calling the Iran war illegal and barring the use of Spain’s airspace and the two US bases on its territory for operations supporting the strikes on Iran.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently said the US is being “humiliated” by Iranian leaders and that he didn’t see “what strategic exit the Americans are now choosing.”
The criticism has had consequences. Over the weekend, Trump said he’d cut thousands of US troops stationed in Germany after accusing European countries of ignoring his requests for help in the war with Iran and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy supplies.
There’s an assumption within Nato that the relationship with the US will get worse before it improves and there may be further troop withdrawals, according to a person with knowledge of the situation, asking not to be identified because the matter is sensitive.
Trump also vowed to raise tariffs on cars and trucks from the EU to 25%, claiming that the bloc had failed to fully comply with a trade agreement negotiated with the US.
“We cannot deny that some of the alliances that we’ve come to rely on are not in the place we want them to be,” UK prime minister Keir Starmer said in Armenia. “There is more tension in the alliances than there should be. It’s very important that we face up to this as a group of countries together.”
French president Emmanuel Macron echoed the sentiment that Europe needs to take more control over its own defence.
“We are experiencing the cost of over-dependencies when we speak about the American umbrella in terms of defence and security,” Macron said. “Let’s be honest, this is the elephant in the room.”
Trump has long accused North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies in Europe of “freeloading” off US protection instead of paying more for their own defence. Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte warned European leaders on Monday that Trump is disappointed with their reluctance to assist with the war in Iran.
Carney said that the allies would need to forge partnerships beyond food, energy and defence to include areas such as space-based communications, semiconductors and critical minerals.
“Our strategic imperative is to build these sovereign capabilities with the most trusted partners,” he said. “We know nostalgia is not a strategy.”
