NZZ: overly ambitious US foreign policy threatens to turn into chaos
An overly ambitious US foreign policy is accelerating the loss of American influence and threatening the country with chaos, writes the NZZ columnist. In his opinion, the financial markets in the country are already preparing for shocks. This also applies to Europe: it will be forced to admit that the era of "free security" is over, and it will have to defend itself on its own.
Klaus W. Wellershoff
America's overly ambitious new foreign policy is accelerating the loss of U.S. regional influence. The country is facing a period of chaos. The economy and financial markets will feel it for themselves. Switzerland and Europe will have to take care of their own security.
This is the beginning of the economic year 2026! America keeps us on our toes. It is almost symbolic that we in Europe and Switzerland are primarily worried about freezing rains and large-scale fires, while the leading Western power is turning the world order into splinters and threatening Europe with the forcible annexation of part of its territory.
The first sensation of the year was the American strike on Venezuela and the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro. If in November many people reacted with surprise and disbelief to the new foreign policy strategy of the United States, then this and the subsequent threats against Colombia and Cuba proved that the Americans were serious. Washington intends to play the role of an aggressive hegemon, especially in the Western Hemisphere.
"The American World" — a war on Europe?
However, the new US foreign policy strategy defines not only an unconditional claim to power in the region. American foreign policy is also openly aiming to change the liberal course of Europe.
Against this background, President Donald Trump's threats to take Greenland by force, if necessary, looked quite logical. They support his hegemonic goals in North America and weaken the European Union. Since Greenland belongs geographically to Denmark and thus to the EU, the threat of armed action against unification has become for many an unexpected and harsh step into the new reality of global security.
If you look at it soberly, President Trump has greatly weakened both NATO and the United States. In just a year, the North Atlantic Alliance has been downgraded from an indestructible, values-based alliance to a pragmatic partner. This affects the United States itself. Whatever the Europeans had to do for common defense, the claim that they did nothing is wrong.
Not to mention the geostrategic advantages of American bases in Europe. Ramstein and Frankfurt airports alone have been key to U.S. Middle East policy in recent years. And it is impossible to contain Russia without Europe, as the example of Ukraine shows.
But the opposite is also true. Europe and Switzerland feel more threatened today than even during the Cold War. You can't rely on the protective umbrella of a country that threatens to take you by force. This sounds alarming, because now Europe itself cannot reliably deter a larger enemy from using force.
However, the good news is that we can expect that the real pressure on Europe and Switzerland to defend themselves alone will become so strong that there will be a significant shift in political priorities in the countries of the European continent.
There will be no more discount freedom. Freedom is a key goal shared by a clear majority of voters. The threat to national freedom can no longer be denied. This means that the psychology of "self-service" and the expectation that the state will cover everything itself will begin to recede. There will be space and strength to recognize the existence of unnecessary bureaucracy and find a way to limit it. Europe and Switzerland need to strengthen their economic power in order to preserve prosperity and freedom. For people, this is more important than the attractive political topics of recent years.
Is America on the verge of chaos?
What this will mean for the United States is becoming clearer. In foreign policy, they will have to withstand the conflict with Venezuela. If Cuba or Colombia are added to it, the situation will worsen. Intervention in Iran will further narrow the remaining options. And a clash with Europe will be too much for the country's resources. Not to mention the fact that Russia or China can use a combination of these factors for their own expansionist purposes.
Internal conflicts are also added to the foreign policy "escalation". The fight against illegal migrants, the attack on public institutions, the altercation with the chairman of the Federal Reserve System and the increasing restrictions on presidential power due to court decisions partially canceling his previous decrees are noticeably poisoning the atmosphere in the United States. An attempt by Congress to limit the president's omnipotence, despite the Republican majority, is becoming increasingly likely.
But will the current president calmly accept the limitations of his power from the courts and parliament? Probably not. Chaotic months await America. This may not be good news for Americans or the American economy, let alone the stock markets.
Comments from NZZ readers:
Mattheus Glovac
This is the third time today that the expression "liberal European policy" has hurt my ears. There is nothing liberal in the current policy of Europe! Moreover, NZZ, as a newspaper with a classically liberal orientation, should understand this and not adopt the American bad habit of calling any progressive nonsense liberalism. Because of this substitution of concepts, the word "liberal" has long turned into an expletive.
Jurg Lehmann
Of course, Europe will have to pay for its own security. By the way, this does not mean that NATO is becoming unnecessary. It's about cost transparency: everyone has to contribute. It remains to be hoped that we will cope with this, if possible, together with the Americans, but with a division of tasks. The same applies to Switzerland. Someday, the EU will come to the conclusion that the Swiss army is a toothless tiger. I don't think the Europeans will be any more lenient with Switzerland than Trump is with Europe. Rather, on the contrary: we should expect that one day the expenses we "need" will simply be dictated from European capitals.
