100 days of Trump: has the US lost its power and put the dollar at risk?
On 30 April, President Trump will mark his first milestone – 100 days since taking office. He enters this period with record-low approval ratings within the US, as numerous independent polls have confirmed.
Trump, on the other hand, feels confident enough to tell journalists "I run the world".
It is no exaggeration to say that over the past 100 days, the world has changed – and profoundly.
The priorities, policies and actions that the international community had come to expect from America are gone, and there’s little hope they’ll return. Most of Trump’s most controversial actions, both domestically and internationally, are exactly what he pledged to do in his election campaign.
Unfortunately, the new world order currently being built is dangerous for Ukraine. That said, Kyiv’s influence on these processes should not be underestimated.
Read more about Donald Trump's first 100 days in office and the long-term consequences of his policies in the article by Sergiy Sydorenko, European Pravda's editor – 100 days that reshaped the world: what has President Trump done, and can it ever be reversed?
For nearly half a century after the end of World War II, the global system was bipolar, with the United States and the Soviet Union as its two main players. After the USSR collapsed, neither Russia nor China assumed its former role.
After that, and despite some resistance, the world temporarily became unipolar. The United States took on the role of "global policeman."
Yet now the US is reportedly signalling its readiness to recognise Russia’s illegal annexation of, at the very least, Crimea, and even pressuring Ukraine to publicly accept this outcome.
The role of the world’s policeman is fundamentally incompatible with Trump’s actions, and not just in relation to Ukraine.
A popular theory suggests that Trump is "normalising" annexation so that he can justify doing the same elsewhere, perhaps in places like Greenland. He has also issued threats towards Canada and Panama.
Most notably, rhetoric in support of annexation has become the new normal.
The answer becomes clear when you examine his attitude to different international instruments. Those that set rules, impose limits, and create accountability, Trump rejects outright.
Trump is convinced he alone runs the world and views any restrictions or international mechanisms he doesn’t control as unacceptable. This mindset explains his desire to dismantle the World Health Organisation and other UN institutions where the US has no veto but whose decisions it is still bound by. And in this particular battle, he may very well succeed.
NATO’s future is now uncertain.
The Trump administration walks the line: formally reaffirming commitment, but setting impossible demands and keeping the threat of withdrawal alive. Behind closed doors, preparations for a potential US exit from NATO, or at least its military structure, are underway. This could happen as early as this year.
Officially, nothing irreversible has happened. Washington could still backtrack and restore trust. But there's no sign Trump plans to do so. More likely, Europe faces three and a half more years of toxic, unstable relations with the US.
One of the clearest outcomes of Trump’s first 100 days is a global loss of trust in the US.
This disregard for legal norms is evident in his administration. Trump has set a record for the number of government actions that have been challenged in court – on immigration, civil rights, free speech and more, often losing and then ignoring court rulings.
Trump’s rationale was based on false claims.
The policy has resulted in chaos, sparking market turmoil, retaliation from other countries, and protests from US businesses.
Meanwhile, the dollar lost 10% of its value in those first 100 days. If the trade war escalates, further depreciation seems likely.