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Washington, 5 March 2025 – The administration of US President Donald Trump continues to create international turbulence with its chaotic foreign and trade policy without a clear strategy. According to CNN, a growing number of US allies, including Canada, Mexico and Europe, are expressing concern about the unpredictability of the White House’s actions.
This haphazardness was exemplified by Trump’s recent decisions: first, he imposed punitive tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and the very next day, fearing the consequences for American industry, he froze the tariffs for a month.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the Oval Office to sign a rare earths mining agreement, which Trump hailed as a victory for the United States. However, the meeting ended in a diplomatic scandal, with Zelenskyy kicking Vice President J.D. Vance out of the talks, provoked by his remarks. After that, European leaders scrambled to fix the failure in order to maintain unity amid the war in Ukraine.
At the same time, Elon Musk is drastically reducing the state apparatus, massively dismissing officials and leaving critical industries without funding, which creates new risks for the economy in a weakening environment.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly openly expressed her fatigue with Washington’s trade policy, calling it a “psychodrama” that cannot be experienced every month.
Is Trump’s haphazardness a strategy or chaos?
In the sixth week of Trump’s new presidential term, it is clear that there is no plan. His actions – from attempts to “end the war in Ukraine” to ideas to revive industry with 19th-century tariffs – look more like improvisation than a national strategy.
Former US Trade Representative Michael Froman said in an interview with CNN that tariffs can be a lever for negotiations, but only if the administration knows what it wants to achieve. In the case of Canada, this looks doubtful – Trump accuses it of not fighting fentanyl enough, and then demands that production be moved to the south.
“It looks more like an attempt to weaken Canada to facilitate annexation than a well-thought-out policy,” Ottawa sources suggest.
Chaos is Trumpism
In a way, it is the chaos that is the essence of Trumpism. For Trump himself, who has built his political career on spectacular shows and outrageousness, chaos is an element of control. However, the US allies have to reckon not only with the mood of the American voter, but also with their own stability.
Trump resorts to power diplomacy: he demands increased defence spending from NATO, threatens China, and at the same time boasts of possible strategic successes, such as the fact that the US investment fund BlackRock is buying control of ports near the Panama Canal, which were previously owned by a Hong Kong company.
But while the Trump administration is fond of making loud statements and unexpected decisions, the world is being forced to adapt to a policy of unpredictability. From trade wars to haphazard diplomatic demarches, the United States is increasingly challenging the system it created after World War II.
CNN concludes that in this game without rules, the main question is whether the world will have time to adjust to the new reality before the chaos becomes irreversible.
