With the absolute storm of bigoted and rash executive orders that has manifested in the brief period of time Trump has taken office, it should come to no surprise that Trump would be met with resistance and anger. Most of his actions hold no rationality in regards to the national interest of the U.S. and despite delivering on (the worst of) his promises (e.g the Muslim ban and building “the wall”), keeping his word has not done much to help his image in the eyes of authorities across the US border.
In what seems to be a very bleak horizon in regards to the improvement of Trump’s actions, he has managed to anger more than enough of the international community. Even without having ordered many actions be taken on the front of international politics, the President has managed to whip the U.N., members of the U.K. Parliament and even Japan to some degree of infuriation and disdain.
On Feb. 1, the relatively recent-appointed U.N. Secretary General António Guterres condemned Trump’s order to prevent Muslims from countries such as Iran and Syria (yes, especially refugees) from entering the United States for 90 days under the xenophobic false pretense of national security. Guterres described the act as a violation of our basic principles, and was quick to say that he thinks the measures should be removed sooner than later.
“This is not the way to best protect the United States or any other country in relation to the serious concerns that exist of the possibilities of terrorist infiltration,” reprimanded the U.N. Secretary General in his remarks on President Trump’s executive order. “When we adopt measures that spread anxiety and anger,” he said, “we help trigger the kind of recruitment mechanism that these organizations are doing everywhere in the world.” While Guterres did not daringly proclaim Trump’s orders as illegal, he stressed the President’s actions to be done against international obligation.
Members of the U.K. Parliament reprimanded Trump’s actions without timidity or hesitation as they spoke against the possibility of a visit from Trump himself. In fact M.P.s pressured P.M. Theresa May to speak out against the travel ban as they discussed the matter. London Mayor Sadiq Qhan described the ban as “shameful and cruel” while various other M.P.s revolted Trump’s orders and even went on to call him out on the truth of his nature, labelling him a “bigoted, racist man”.
Members of the UK Parliament just condemned President Trump. pic.twitter.com/5sIgVd3UM8
— ATTN: (@attn) January 31, 2017
Even in France, a country where populist sentiment is beginning to gain ground among the people, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault asserted that welcoming refugees into their country is “a duty of solidarity.” “Terrorism doesn’t have a nationality; discrimination is not an answer.” Other bodies of authority in other nations that the President has managed to piss off include Australia, where the President had allegedly hung up on a phone call after a mere 25 minutes, instead of the hour long discussion it was supposed to be.
And of course, there’s no doubt that the main blow to U.S. relations would be with the countries directly affected by the ban. Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Yemen are among them.
However, the travel ban aside, Trump’s other executive orders have not done much to change the world’s perception of him. For example in Japan, a country which relies greatly on the U.S. to act as an ally and balance out the power of China in the Eastern Region as well as for trade, pulling out of the T.P.P. only made the U.S. less reliable and Japan more agitated as the U.S. rolled back on their promises and caused trust to crack in their alliance.
With the recent news that the U.S. appeals court has refused to reinstate the travel ban despite Trump’s attempts (see: firing the former Attorney General), there is no doubt that pressure, voices and soft power do much to influence the outcome of a situation. Social norms still exist as a factor in all political processes and we would do well to remember that.
While borders prevent intervention in domestic affairs, such as who is elected to be President, rapid evolution of technology, communication and norms regarding the international community no longer allows criticism and condemnation to be prevented as well.
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