Monday, January 27, 2025

A crash course in Trump doctrine

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From South America to the Arctic, the world is getting a crash course in the Trump doctrine.

It's immediate, it's retaliatory, it's blunt. And it's left countries oceans apart disoriented and picking up the pieces. That is partly by design — Donald Trump's strategy was always to keep people guessing as part of his deal-making. A flurry of weekend action showed he's perfected the art in his second stint as US president.

When Colombia rejected deportation flights from the US, Trump immediately threatened to respond with tariffs, followed by travel curbs. Once Bogota capitulated, the economic stick was lifted, mission accomplished.

US Customs and Border Protection agents guide a group of migrants to an aircraft for a removal flight at Fort Bliss, Texas, last week. Source: US Department of Defense

Denmark is meanwhile reeling from a bruising conversation between Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Trump where he made clear his plan to take over Greenland is no joke. He later belittled the fellow NATO member's plan to boost surveillance of a remote outpost on the strategic self-governing island that has vast stores of critical minerals.

"They put two dog sleds there two weeks ago, they thought that was protection," Trump said.

The one-two punch followed Trump's Davos rebuke to bankers and ordering Saudi Arabia to lower oil prices. The audience had barely digested the Friday speech when the policy was put into practice.

The Trump doctrine — self-interest dressed up as patriotic nationalism — was always hiding in plain sight.

Back in 2017, he borrowed a line from the "Wizard of Oz" to address the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum: "Let us never forget the world has many places — many dreams, and many roads. But in all of the world, there is no place like home."

That the film (and book) can be interpreted as a parable on populism is one for the political scientists.

But these past days suggest there's no shelter for those standing on Trump's yellow brick road. Flavia Krause-Jackson

WATCH: Trump announced tariffs on Colombia after a dispute over deported migrants, but then withdrew the threat a few hours later after reaching a deal with the government in Bogota. Bill Faries reports on Bloomberg TV.

Global Must Reads

Liu Jie, China's youngest provincial governor after being elevated in Zhejiang province — the wealthy tech hub that helped propel President Xi Jinping to power — is among a rising generation of officials on course to become one of the country's next top leaders. Roughly one-fifth of Chinese local chiefs are due to retire this year, meaning Xi's government is set to make a flurry of promotions worth watching.

Elon Musk stirred more controversy in Germany with a video appearance at a campaign rally held by the far-right AfD party Saturday in which he said that there is "too much focus on past guilt" and that Germans should be proud. He spoke as tens of thousands marched in Berlin and other cities against the AfD and proposals by the frontrunner for the Feb. 23 election, conservative leader Friedrich Merz, to adopt a hardline approach to migration.

Musk speaks virtually alongside AfD Co-leader Alice Weidel during a campaign event in Halle, Germany, on Saturday. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

The European Union is set to agree to extend sanctions on Russia today over its war against Ukraine, with Hungary ready to lift its opposition to the move, sources say. The government in Budapest had been stalling since December when Prime Minister Viktor Orban told EU leaders he wanted to wait for Trump's inauguration before deciding whether to back rolling over the restrictions, which needs the support of all 27 member states.

Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend their ceasefire until Feb. 18 to give Israeli troops more time to withdraw, while a Gaza dispute with Hamas over a hostage release was resolved with an agreement to release another round of captives on Thursday. Israeli television reported that Trump's Middle East envoy will visit this week to advance the next phase of the deal, while the US president floated the possibility of having Jordan and Egypt take in Palestinian refugees — an idea quickly rejected in the region.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko extended his rule into a seventh term with 86.8% of the vote, according to official results from yesterday's election. With most of his critics in jail or exile, the 70-year-old Russian ally who has controlled Belarus since 1994 faced no serious opposition in the tightly-controlled ballot, called a "sham" by the EU.

Chinese artificial-intelligence startup DeepSeek rocked global technology stocks today after buzz grew over the weekend about its latest AI model being cost-effective while running on less-advanced chips, raising questions about America's technological dominance.

A rebel group aligned with Rwanda seized a key trading hub in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, raising the prospect of a full-blown war between the two Central African nations.

WATCH: Rebel group M23 said it seized the key trading hub of Goma. Ondiro Oganga reports on Bloomberg TV.

South Korean prosecutors charged President Yoon Suk Yeol for his failed attempt last month to place the country under martial law, forcing the impeached leader to remain in detention as they build a case against him.

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Chart of the Day

The European Central Bank is expected to further loosen the shackles on euro-region growth by lowering interest rates for a fourth straight meeting on Thursday. Business surveys published last week generated some hope that a small revival may be feasible. But ECB officials, increasingly confident that inflation is headed back to 2%, won't be deterred — particularly as uncertainty fueled by Trump's return is casting a shadow over companies and households.

And Finally

As Denmark's busiest commercial port, Aarhus Havn had long been a vibrant hub for shipping behemoth Maersk. So when plans were announced for a new terminal, it was widely assumed the Copenhagen-based company would get the business. Not only did Maersk lose out, the contract went to Geneva-based MSC — its fiercest competitor and partner for the past decade in a fractious vessel-sharing alliance. That partnership will officially be disbanded on Jan. 31, as the world's biggest container carriers pursue radically different strategies.

Aarhus Havn, the busiest commercial port in Denmark. Photographer: Carsten Snejbjerg/Bloomberg

Thanks to the 25 people who correctly answered the Friday quiz and congratulations to Mike Shapiro, who was first to name India as the country that offered to work with the Trump administration to take back its nationals living illegally in the US.

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