Cosmopolitics Weekend Edit: Xi's post-American world
Also: Canadians get rowdy and the ambivalence over making trade deals with President Trump
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Xi’s Seduction Scene If there was a single image this week that captures our new global reality, it was the Victory Day parade in Red Square on Thursday. There stood Xi, alongside Vladimir Putin, Brazilian President Lula, and a smattering of leaders from what we once dismissively called the "developing world" — all watching Chinese troops march alongside Russian forces in a display clearly meant to signal: This is what a post-American world looks like.
While Trump continues his quixotic quest to make America "great again" by alienating our partners, Xi is methodically building an alternative system with China at its center. And he's finding surprisingly willing participants among nations that historically looked to Washington for leadership.
Xi's four-day trip to Russia wasn't just another routine visit. It was a calculated flex at a moment when Trump has thrown the entire Western alliance system into disarray. Before heading to Moscow, Xi called on European Union leaders to "stand with China against unilateral bullying" – a thinly veiled reference to Trump's trade policies. The Chinese leader is actively courting European partners alienated by Trump's tariff threats, seeking to translate this diplomatic opening into expanded economic ties.
The Chinese leader's presence at the commemoration of the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany signals more than just support for Putin. It's a declaration that the "no-limits" partnership between Beijing and Moscow remains firmly intact, despite Trump's attempts to peel Russia away. At the center of that partnership is giving Trump enough rope to hang American supremacy, while creating a multipolar world that benefits both Russia and China.
Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers gathered in Lviv, Ukraine, to launch a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes. This tribunal, supported by 42 countries, represents the rules-based order that America once championed. But conspicuously absent? The United States, which under Trump withdrew its support for the initiative.
Canada's awakening Nothing illustrates the extraordinary transformation of America's global standing better than our relationship with Canada. Just this week, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made his first official visit to the White House, where an extraordinary exchange unfolded.
"As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale," Carney told Trump, rejecting the president's repeated suggestions that Canada should become America's 51st state. Trump's response? "Never say never."
This wasn't just diplomatic awkwardness – it's existential. As Canadian Ambassador Kirsten Hillman told The Atlantic, "Canadians have gone through a range of emotions: surprise, disbelief, confusion, sadness. But we, I think, are angry and frustrated."
A Leger poll found that 27% of Canadians now view the United States as the "enemy." The enemy. Let that sink in. Our most reliable ally, the country with which we share the world's longest undefended border, is now booing our national anthem at hockey games. All while Trump insists on maintaining 25% tariffs on Canadian goods for no better reason than "just the way it is."
Everybody wants a trade deal, nobody trusts the dealer While Trump declared from the Oval Office that countries were "running" to make trade deals with the United States, the scoreboard shows a remarkably thin list – exactly one framework agreement with the United Kingdom announced just last week. And even that deal reveals more about the erosion of American credibility than it does about Trump's dealmaking prowess.
According to a POLITICO-Public First poll, less than one-third of respondents in the U.K. and only 44% of Americans believe Trump would actually abide by the agreement he signed. Nearly half of Americans, including a quarter of his own voters, cited Trump's unpredictability as the biggest barrier to negotiations. Most damning of all, a 42% plurality of British adults now view China as a more reliable trading partner than the United States.
Let that sink in: Our closest historical ally, with whom we share language, legal traditions, and democratic values, increasingly believes that authoritarian China makes a more trustworthy economic partner than America.
And it's not just the British – this sentiment is becoming a global pandemic. India has frantically offered to slash its tariff gap with the U.S. to less than 4% from nearly 13% to secure an exemption from Trump's tariff hikes. Even China, the primary target of Trump's trade fury, has reluctantly come to the negotiating table this weekend.
The result is a bizarre spectacle where nations are simultaneously desperate to secure deals with America while fundamentally doubting whether those deals would be worth the paper they're printed on. It's like watching everyone at a casino frantically making bets on a roulette table they suspect is rigged.
Red, white, and blue smoke If there's another leader who might challenge Trump's America First doctrine, it arrived this week from an unexpected place: the Vatican. In a historic move, the Catholic Church elected American-born Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Leo XIV – the first American pontiff in history. But this isn't the American pope the Trump administration might have hoped for. Born in Chicago but having spent much of his clerical life in Peru, Pope Leo represents a globalist vision at odds with Trump's nationalist agenda. Steve Bannon immediately branded him the "worst pick for MAGA Catholics" and the "anti-Trump pope."
It's a peculiar development – America's global influence is waning, yet an American now leads the world's 1.3 billion Catholics with a vision that seems to reject Trumpism. As one Vatican observer noted, Leo's appointment signals that "progressives got the upper hand in the conclave despite feverish attempts by MAGA-aligned conservatives to exert influence." The president who won 59% of the Catholic vote may soon find himself challenged by the first pope.
India-Pakistan: back from the brink? (More to come on this story this week) The fragile ceasefire brokered this weekend by Trump between India and Pakistan barely survived its first 24 hours, with both sides already accusing the other of violations. Like two boxers reluctantly sent to neutral corners, neither country seems ready to truly disengage from what had been the most dangerous escalation in decades. In classic fashion, they can't even agree on how the truce happened – India insisting it was "worked out directly between the two countries," while Pakistan effusively thanks Trump for his "leadership and proactive role." What began with a horrific terrorist massacre of Hindu tourists in Kashmir spiraled into unprecedented strikes deep into Pakistani Punjab, with both sides racing to claim victory before stepping back from nuclear catastrophe. For now, at least, the unstable peace holds – but the region remains just one miscalculation away from disaster.
Israel can’t quit Gaza Israel stands poised to launch "Operation Gideon's Chariots," a catastrophic plan to reoccupy all of Gaza if no deal is reached by May 15. The operation would displace Gaza's entire population of 2 million into a single "humanitarian area," creating what critics call deliberate conditions for mass exodus. This U.S. has proposed a 21-day truce involving just six hostages, while Gazans face imminent starvation under Israel's two-month blockade. With 52,000 Palestinians already dead and community kitchens shuttering daily, Netanyahu seems determined to proceed despite 84% of Israelis believing victory impossible without the hostages' return. Trump's earlier proposal to turn Gaza into a "kitsch beach resort" after relocating its population has been denounced internationally as ethnic cleansing – yet appears increasingly aligned with Israel's strategy of making life in Gaza unlivable.
Mayor, war criminal…or both? In the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte sits in a Hague detention cell awaiting trial for mass killings while simultaneously running for mayor of Davao City – a race he's expected to win handily. The strongman's detention has barely dented his mythic status in his hometown, where café workers proudly display his image and locals claim they "cried for three days" after his arrest. Monday's elections will reveal whether the Duterte name still carries national weight or if it's becoming a regional cult of personality with diminishing returns. It's the perfect distillation of Philippine politics – a family melodrama played out across ballot boxes, with dynasties rising and falling while their patriarchs manage campaigns from prison cells halfway around the world.
First Family of crypto Eric Trump held court last week at Dubai's Token2049 crypto conference, flanked by digital currency power players while declaring his mission to "take over the financial world." This wasn't just another Trump-branded venture – it’s a financial insurgency. The family connections run deeper still – co-founder Zach Witkoff, who jumped in to tout future exchange listings, is the son of Steve Witkoff, a close Trump ally and the president's envoy to the Middle East, completing the picture of a nepotistic crypto dynasty in the making. Check out this piece by
, which connects the dots between the administration’s offspring and US toward Iran.Secrets from the healthiest places on earth We've all seen those glossy magazine features about Italian centenarians who credit their longevity to red wine, or Okinawan elders supposedly pushing 110 while tending their gardens. Some places genuinely do foster longer, healthier lives through structural advantages that make healthy choices easier: cities designed for walking rather than driving, robust healthcare systems that catch problems early, community spaces that combat isolation, and environmental policies that prioritize clean air and water. But secret isn't just in the soil or the sea breeze; it's in the social fabric and infrastructure that shape daily life in ways both subtle and profound. What's fascinating isn't just where people live longer, but why and how we can transpose these advantages to our own communities.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
America first in action Few stories demonstrate Trump's radical reinterpretation of American foreign policy more vividly than this week's unexpected Houthi ceasefire. As I wrote this week in A Convenient Truce, the terms were almost comically straightforward: the Houthis stop attacking American ships, and America stops bombing Yemen. Everyone else – Israel and Gulf allies included – is on their own. As one regional diplomat put it with brutal clarity: "This is actually the textbook definition of America First. They're not attacking us. So not our problem." Trump's upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE now has all the makings of a supremely uncomfortable diplomatic encounter. More on that this week.
Generation Adrift The latest Harvard Youth Poll reads less like a survey and more like an autopsy of the American Dream. As I wrote this week for
, an entire generation isn't just discontented – they're disconnected, disillusioned, and increasingly convinced they've been handed a system designed to fail them.
Ms. Labott, we must not forget that Trump is the result of decades of U.S. government policies contrary to American principles of "In God We Trust, Liberty, and E. Pluribus Unum." Reagan came into office in 1981 at a time when American prestige was low. He made sure that our allies around the world knew America was firmly committed to the alliance. Thus his great relations with Mulroney in Canada, Thatcher in Britain, Mitterand in France and Khol in Germany. (Please pardon the spelling) To make America Great Again will take more than the United States. It will take a world committed to American principles. Take care.