Trump: growing the harrowing...payback en route? ...Election: Gabon back to the future...Iran going non-nuclear?...The world for Ukraine (except...) For our paid: Coldplay plays HK...Plus our cartoons
In this weekly feature for Andelman Unleashed, we continue to explore how the media of other nations are reporting and commenting on the United States, and how they are viewing the rest of the world.
To emphasize, we cover lots of ground….So, you may not want to read it all, but it's all here for you!
How others see America
Ever more harrowing….
Hard to believe life in TrumpWorld could get any more harrowing, but then Donald John Trump rarely fails to surprise….and horrify. Beyond the tariff whiplash, there was so much more. But first, those pesky tariffs. As Le Monde put it in its traditional low-key tone just after the latest round of tariff whipsaws and yips:
Trade War: disquiet spreads
But by week's end, the real fear was over China—by now America's leading foe and one that was clearly looking more for opportunities than any truce in the war that America had unilaterally declared. As Kandy Wong and Alice Li reported in the South China Morning Post:
During his first term in office, US President Donald Trump swiftly moved to pull the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership—an ambitious free trade agreement aimed at cementing America’s position in the Asia-Pacific region. Now, the reinstated US leader may be opening the door to China to join the successor to that agreement, as countries around the world seek to counter his sweeping reciprocal tariff regime.
Many expect the rest of the world to close ranks against the US as they seek to stand up to American threats, which could aid China in its long-standing application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The CPTPP, which was born from the ashes of the TPP, is a 12-member trading bloc that includes Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Vietnam and several other major economies. China applied to join the grouping in 2021, but its bid remains pending….Though several members—including Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore—have voiced support for China’s bid, others are reportedly reluctant to allow Beijing to enter a group that was originally created to curtail its influence in the region.
But Trump’s tariff policies are causing governments to reassess their priorities, and that could make the CPTPP members more inclined to advance China’s bid, experts said. Any move to expand the bloc requires a unanimous vote by all 12 nations.
Frank Tsai, an adjunct professor at Emlyon Business School in Shanghai, said that China had “a golden opportunity to beat America at its own game,” adding that “‘Liberation Day’ isolates America from the rest of the world by incentivizing all other countries to trade with each other. It marks the day that America joins the ranks of insecure, closed, declining powers like the late USSR.”
Indeed, quickly the focus shifted to Beijing as SCMP Beijing correspondent reported from China's capital:
Fears are spreading that the conflict may spill over into dangerous new territory: the financial markets.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added to the speculation when he declined to rule out the possibility that Washington may delist Chinese stocks from US exchanges, during an interview. “I think everything’s on the table,” Bessent said. “That will be President Trump’s decision.”
Meanwhile, commentators have voiced concerns that China could consider dumping its US Treasuries as a retaliatory measure or in an attempt to avoid a US default—a move that could sow chaos in the financial markets.
The US government bond market [not to mention the dollar itself] has seen a sharp sell-off in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies over recent days, with some traders raising doubts about the US Treasuries’ status as the world’s safest asset.
China held about US$760 billion of US government debt as of January, making it the second-largest foreign holder of the asset class after Japan. That potentially gives Beijing the power to spark a large sell-off of US Treasuries, with unpredictable consequences.
Another SCMP correspondent in Beijing, Hayley Wong, painted an even darker picture:
The record American tariffs imposed on Beijing could serve as a stress test for its ability to withstand Western economic pressure in the event of a crisis in the Taiwan Strait such as armed conflict…
Any final call to action relating to Taiwan remained a complex political and military decision for Beijing, which regards the island as part of China, to be reunited by force if necessary.
“If the current tariff is sustained, and China is able to weather this difficult period, it will definitely boost Beijing’s confidence in facing potential Western sanctions in a future cross-strait war,” said international relations professor Zhiqun Zhu
And then there's the payback
With Europe's finance ministers in Warsaw for three days effectively wargaming a tariff war (or worse) with Trump America, the leading Polish daily Wyborcza headlined:
America in Crisis
The egg came first,
and then customs, stock exchange and divorce from Europe
As Politico Europe reported:
Appropriately, they’ll be meeting at the Polish Army Museum.
The Polish government, which is hosting the meeting under its rotating Council of Europe presidency, is keen to keep heads cool and avoid a war of words with the U.S. “We should be like Buddha: calm, focused and have a strategic response,” an EU diplomat said. Also present: British Chancellor Rachel Reeves will join the gathering to make the case for the U.K.’s participation.
On the agenda, tariffs, with a discussion on their potential effects on the global and national economies as well as the financial sector. Defense then took center stage when finance ministers will have their say on the Bruegel Report…
As its authors summarized:
Europe faces a grave security threat. Gaps in European military equipment are substantial compared to Russia’s military build-up. The European defence market is fragmented and weakened by home bias in procurement, low order numbers and technological gaps. These problems reflect the combination of past reliance on the United States and Europe’s nationally-based defence governance. With the US now retreating from its role of European guardian, greater cooperation is essential to close technological gaps and reduce rearmament costs. Unless procurement is pooled and fragmentation reduced, additional demand for defence goods will mainly drive up prices. Better-integrated defence markets would both increase competition and facilitate entry of new defence technology firms. The combination of integrated markets and scaled-up procurement could lead to a halving of unit costs.
As for how to deal with Trump, French politician Thierry Breton had some thoughts he was hardly unwilling to explore with Sébastien Lernould and Erwan Benezet of Le Parisien:
"Europe must avoid any sign of weakness": Thierry Breton's warning to the United States
The former European Commissioner believes that the European Union must not make any concessions on its territorial and democratic integrity, as negotiations with Washington begin in an attempt to find a solution to the trade war.
America is living beyond its means thanks to the credit of its creditors, in particular Japan and China, but also Europe, with Great Britain, Germany or France, to finance its deficits, its economy, its military spending, etc. Everything rested on the trust of these creditors or allies. However, since January 20 this capital of trust seems to have been shattered.
There is no question of expressing any sense of weakness. It is up to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen herself to lead the negotiations in Washington, on behalf of the 27, united and supportive. And to ensure that no one is tempted to do so on their own. The Commission President, in these negotiations, represents Europe and its 450 million citizens.
The costs for the American economy may not prove trivial, as London's Financial Times reported:
Some of the world’s biggest pension funds are halting or reassessing their private market investments into the US, saying they will not resume until the country stabilises after Donald Trump’s erratic policy blitz. The moves underscore how big institutional investors are rethinking their exposure to the world’s largest economy as the US president’s trade policy upends markets, adding pressure to America’s private capital industry which is under increasing liquidity strain.
In Paris, Guillaume Benoit, deputy head of markets reporting for the leading French financial daily Les Echos was sending up similar cautionary flares:
What was previously considered a conspiracy theory fantasy is becoming reality. The world's largest bond market, the $29 trillion US government debt market, is experiencing the beginnings of investor withdrawals.
While Treasury yields—US government bonds—had fallen after Donald Trump's announcement of new tariffs last week, the debt benefiting from its safe haven status (a bond's yield and its value move in opposite directions), they have been soaring since Monday. The US 10-year bond, which had fallen just below 4% on Friday, hit 4.5% on Wednesday, before returning to around 4.4%. The 30-year yield saw its sharpest surge since the Covid crisis.
Benoit had already suggested:
Meanwhile, the world's media hardly hesitated for a moment to call attention to any rifts that might be opening within the Trump presidential entourage, as Le Parisien observed:
Elon Musk publicly calls Donald Trump's trade advisor Peter Navarro a 'moron'
Navarro had described Tesla as an auto "assembler" and not an "automaker," which angered his boss. "Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks," Musk continued on X , assuring that Tesla "has the largest number of cars made in the United States."
"If you visit his factory in Texas, you will see that a large part of the motors he receives (and in the case of electric vehicles, it's the batteries) come from Japan and China. The electronics come from Taiwan..." Peter Navarro continued, calling for all these components to be produced in the United States.
But what about Trump & his health?
He had his full annual checkup at Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday, and Sunday his personal physician was positively giddy in reporting the results. But there are still worries….as deputy editor-in-chief Bartosz T. Wieliński reported in Wyborcza:
Rumors of Trump's poor health are growing. It's like Biden's when he was in the White House: people are once again talking about him having trouble concentrating and losing his bearings.
Age, being overweight, poor diet—these are not good prognoses. There is also another issue: Trump's father suffered from Alzheimer's disease towards the end of his life. This means that the president is more likely to get this disease. And in the case of the US president, the ability to think clearly and to withstand stress are key issues.
Meanwhile, Trump’s behavior is, to put it mildly, surprising. One day Trump imposed tariffs, the next he suspended them, one day he threatened Ukraine, the next Russia. He turned a blind eye to Elon Musk’s devastation of the civil service , only to distance himself from the billionaire later.
For several months now, we have been looking for some logic in the actions of the US president. We are left with nothing. We explain them by his immaturity, capricious nature, ignorance combined with self-love, infantilism and accepting the opinion of the last interlocutor.
What if Trump is simply sick and aging rapidly?
For The Economist, they toyed with all sorts of rich alternatives for their cover this week. First, they loved that red necktie:
But finally settled on just plain chaos:
As deputy editor Tom Standage put it:
We preferred the collage of Trumpy expressions, for several reasons. It is a graphical depiction of Trumpian chaos. And it captures both Mr Trump’s mercurial character and the incoherence of his multiple policy positions—are his tariffs a way to raise revenue, an effort to persuade companies to relocate to America or a temporary negotiating tactic to win concessions in other areas? All three, says Mr Trump, even though these objectives are mutually contradictory….
The scale of the shock to global trade set off by Mr Trump is still, even now, unlike anything before it. He has undermined America’s stable trading relations, built up over decades, through whimsical and arbitrary policymaking, and replaced the old certainties that underpinned the world economy with chaos and confusion. It will take a very long time to rebuild what has been lost.
Was there ever any doubt? After all, the coup 19 months ago that brought an end to 50 years of Bongo, father and son, dictatorial rule was engineered by the general. He promised a return to democracy, free elections and civilian rule. Fah on that—also on the economic development he'd promised the third of his nation would bootstrap above the $2/day poverty level where they continue to language, despite its vast oil wealth.
Still in the end, the author of the coup that deposed the Bongo family was “elected” president.
As Jeanne Le Bihan reported for Jeune Afrique magazine….
Oligui Nguema overwhelmingly elected with 90.35% of the vote…Provisional results, announced by the Ministry of the Interior, show the Brigadier General the winner of the presidential election, in a poll marked by a turnout of 70.4%.
Seven candidates….guess who's got the thickest stack?
Big turnout ….
Vote now, play later
As Al Jazeera elaborated:
His main rival, Alain Claude Bilie-By-Nze, had won some three percent of Saturday’s vote, according to the initial results.
Nguema, who had been instrumental in ending 55 years of dynastic rule of the Bongo family, was widely expected to win the eight-candidate race. Reporting from Libreville, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said the outcome of the election came as no surprise, and focus has already shifted to the president’s looming challenges.
“Nguema inherits a country that spent five decades under Bongo rule,” said Hashem.
The Bongo dynasty ruled Gabon through a web of patronage, distributing influential posts to allies and family members. That political structure kept power concentrated in the hands of a few, while the majority of citizens saw little benefit from the country’s vast wealth.
Gabon, home to around 2.2 million people, sits on the Atlantic coast of West-Central Africa. It holds substantial reserves of oil, gold, and manganese and is part of the Congo Basin — a vital rainforest ecosystem. Yet, despite its natural riches, nearly 40 percent of young people remain unemployed, according to the World Bank’s 2024 data.
Nguema, once head of the Republican Guard under former President Ali Bongo, campaigned as a reformer.
Wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with his slogan “We Build Together”, he promised to clean up corruption, diversify the oil-heavy economy, and invest in agriculture, tourism and industry.
Although Nguema now has a seven-year mandate—renewable once—many remain sceptical of real change.
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How others see the World
Going nuclear?
At least they're still talking. That's about the only good news out of the first face-to-face contact between senior Iranian and American negotiators trying to keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. The "talks" lasted two and half hours with Oman's foreign minister shuffling ideas between the two delegations and ending with a brief handshake between the American and Iranian—itself a bit of an historic moment. As a White House statement pointed out:
“U.S. Special Presidential Envoy Steven Witkoff, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Oman Ana Escrogima, conducted talks today in Muscat with Iranian Foreign Minister Dr. Abbas Araghchi, which were hosted by Omani Foreign Minister Said Badr. The discussions were very positive and constructive, and the United States deeply thanks the Sultanate of Oman for its support of this initiative. Special Envoy Witkoff underscored to Dr. Araghchi that he had instructions from President Trump to resolve our two nations’ differences through dialogue and diplomacy if that is possible. These issues are very complicated, and Special Envoy Witkoff’s direct communication today was a step forward in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome. The sides agreed to meet again next Saturday.”
Back in February, Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei noted on his X account:
This weekend's photo was the Iranian with his Omani host….no Steven Witkoff in sight….
On his own Telegram account Araghchi wrote in Farsi that it was “worthy to note” that the two officials “spoke for a few minutes” in the presence of the Omani foreign minister….nothing about any such direct contact in his English-language post on X:
It's still a long way to the far outskirts of the status quo at the moment Donald Trump in his first White House term put a stake through the heart of a carefully-crafted pact that would have kept Iran years from its present position approaching the nuclear threshold. And lots more friction may still lie ahead, as the Institute for the Study of War pointed out:
A Senior Iranian official threatened to reduce cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) if external threats against Iran continue. Iranian Supreme Leader Adviser Ali Shamkhani stated on April 10 that Iran could expel IAEA inspectors, halt cooperation with the agency, or move enriched uranium to “safe and unknown locations” if external threats and military pressure continue. Iran has already restricted IAEA oversight, including withdrawing the designation of several inspectors in September 2023 and barring other top inspectors in November 2024. Shamkhani’s remarks may possibly aim to deter a potential US or Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities and may also seek to instill urgency among Western officials for renewed negotiations.
China increased its Iranian oil imports by at least 80 percent in March compared to February. This undermines the US "maximum pressure" campaign, which seeks to drive Iranian oil exports to zero, and illustrates cooperation between two major US adversaries.
And then there's Ukraine … Europe to the rescue?!
Indeed, quite a little shopping list. As the Institute for the Study of War outlined:
Ukraine's European partners announced new military aid during the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (the Ramstein format) meeting. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius announced Germany will provide Ukraine with four IRIS-T air defense systems, 33 missiles for the systems, 120 man-portable air defense systems, 25 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 15 Leopard tanks, 14 artillery systems, and 130,000 155mm artillery shells. Pistorius stated that Germany recently provided 30 Patriot missiles to Ukraine as well. Germany and the United Kingdom are establishing an electronic warfare coalition for Ukraine. Britain announced a military aid package worth 450 million pounds (about $588 million) of drones, radars, and anti-tank mines. Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur stated Estonia will deliver 10,000 155mm artillery shells and 750,000 rations packages to Ukraine; Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans stated the Netherland will provide 150 million euros (about $170 million) to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses; and Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė announced Lithuania will allocate 20 million euros (about $22 million) to Ukraine for ammunition.
Meanwhile, as ISW observes, the U.S. may not to be bowing out entirely….
US Special Envoy to Ukraine General Keith Kellogg expressed support for the deployment of an allied "reassurance force" in rear areas of western Ukraine after a possible future ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia [while also] expressing support for a "partition" of Ukraine between European, Ukrainian, and Russian forces; the deployment of a European "reassurance force" in western Ukraine; and establishing an 18-mile-wide "demilitarized zone" along the current frontline. Kellogg clarified later that he supports the presence of a "reassurance force" that does not include US troops to support Ukrainian sovereignty, but that none of his statements suggested "a partitioning of Ukraine."
As if this might make any real difference to Kremlin thinking:
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik responded to Kellogg's statements and reiterated the Kremlin's objection to the presence of any peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine following a possible future ceasefire or peace agreement because a peacekeeping force would preserve the "level of toxicity" that supposedly prompted Russia to launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
So much for ending this war by January 27 (first week of Trump II).
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