He has launched an unprecedented global tariff war and slashed U.S. foreign aid. He has disparaged NATO allies and embraced Russia's narrative about its invasion of Ukraine. And he has spoken about annexing Greenland, retaking the Panama Canal and making Canada the 51st state. In the chaotic first 100 days since President Donald Trump returned to office, he has waged an often unpredictable campaign that has upended parts of the rules-based world order that Washington helped build from the ashes of World War II.
"Trump is much more radical now than he was eight years ago," said Elliott Abrams, a conservative who served under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush before being appointed U.S. special envoy on Iran and Venezuela in Trump's first term. "I have been surprised."
Trump's second-term "America First" agenda has alienated friends and emboldened adversaries while raising questions about how far he is prepared to go. His actions, coupled with that uncertainty, have so unnerved some governments that they are responding in ways that could be difficult to undo, even if a more traditional U.S. president is elected in 2028.
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