World Review: 100 Days of Unmaking the World America Made
Each Friday morning, I host a video podcast called “World Review with Ivo Daalder” where three journalists from major news outlets around the world join me to discuss the latest global news stories of the week.
“World Review is always fascinating. I love the fact that you can get journalists from around the world to participate since zoom is the medium.”
— A Subscriber to America Abroad
100 Days. It’s hard to think of any other First Hundred Day period in US history that has been more consequential for the world than these last 100 Days. The 100-day mark goes back to FDR in 1933 — but his reordering was domestic. Trump’s has been domestic and foreign. Or, as he told The Atlantic last week, in his second term “I run the country and the world.”
So how is that going? That’s the question we will address today — notably with respect to Trump’s running of the world.
Perhaps most shocked, and definitely most affected, have been America’s traditional allies. They don’t like what they are seeing, and they are reacting accordingly — including this week in Canada, where the Liberals earned a fourth successive term thanks in large part to Trump’s threats, repeated on Election Day, to make Canada the 51st US state.
Most predictable, yet probably most shattering, has been Trump’s effort to remake the global economy by imposing global tariffs on the US import of goods to levels not seen since 1901. A US-China trade war has effectively frozen trade between the two countries going forward. Inbound container shipping into the Port of Los Angeles is down 45% this week compared to a year ago. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the standoff is unsustainable. That much is clear. But who will blink first? Trump or Xi?
Finally, Trump sold himself to the American people as a “peacemaker” He promised to end Russia’s war against Ukraine in 24 hours, even before his inauguration. And he took credit for the ceasefire in Gaza that had been under negotiations for over a year. But the Ukraine war continues unabated, and Israel is bombing Gaza relentlessly, occupying large swats of the country, and laying siege on its population. In other words, peace is no closer today.
To make sense of Trump’s first 100 Days, I was joined by three reporters who are covering these stories: Stefanie Bolzen, North America Editor of Die Welt; Bobby Ghosh, Senior Editor Digital Weekend, Bloomberg; and Philip Stephens, Contributing Editor, Financial Times, and author of “Inside-Out” Substack
I encourage you to watch or listen to the episode (and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts!).