Daily Dispatch

Shockwaves on Trump triumph

Big uncertaint­y over US foreign policy

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GOVERNMENT­S from Asia to Europe reacted with stunned disbelief yesterday to the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidenti­al election, while populists hailed the result as a triumph of the people over a failed political establishm­ent.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, described the result as a huge shock and questioned whether it meant the end of Pax Americana, the state of relative peace overseen by Washington that has governed internatio­nal relations since World War 2.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault pledged to work with Trump but said his personalit­y raised questions and he admitted to being unsure what a Trump presidency would mean for key foreign policy challenges, from climate change and the West’s nuclear deal with Iran to the war in Syria.

“Looks like this will be the year of the double disaster of the West,” former Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said on Twitter, pointing to Britain’s vote in June to leave the European Union. “Fasten seatbelts,” he said.

Meanwhile, right-wing populists from Australia to France cheered the result as a body blow for the political establishm­ent.

“Their world is falling apart. Ours is being built,” Florian Philippot, a senior figure in France’s National Front (FN), tweeted.

Beatrix von Storch, deputy leader of the antiimmigr­ant Alternativ­e for Germany (AfD) party, said: “Donald Trump’s victory is a sign that citizens of the western world want a clear change in policy.”

During the US election campaign, Trump expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin, questioned central tenets of the Nato military alliance and suggested that Japan and South Korea should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons to shoulder their own defence burden.

He has vowed to undo a global deal on climate change struck by world powers in Paris last year and renegotiat­e the deal between Tehran and the West which eased sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for allowing close monitoring of its nuclear programme.

But many western government­s are unsure whether Trump, a real estate mogul and former reality TV star with no government experience, will follow through on his campaign pledges, some of which would turn the post-war order on its head.

“We’re realising now that we have no idea what this American president will do if the voice of anger enters office and the voice of anger becomes the most powerful man in the world,” Norbert Roettgen, a conservati­ve ally of Merkel and head of the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told German radio. “Geopolitic­ally we are in a very uncertain situation.”

Prominent historian Simon Schama described a Trump victory and Republican control of both the Senate and US House of Representa­tives as a “genuinely frightenin­g prospect”.

“Nato will be under pressure to disintegra­te, the Russians will make trouble, 20 million people will lose their health insurance, climate change [policies] will be reversed, bank regulation will be liquidated,” Schama said. — Reuters

 ?? Picture: EPA ?? IT’S TEARS: People in the crowd at Hillary Clinton’s US presidenti­al election night event watch results come in on a big screen at the Jacob K Javits Convention Centre in New York
Picture: EPA IT’S TEARS: People in the crowd at Hillary Clinton’s US presidenti­al election night event watch results come in on a big screen at the Jacob K Javits Convention Centre in New York
 ?? Picture: AFP ?? IT’S CHEERS: Supporters during the election night of Donald Trump cheer
Picture: AFP IT’S CHEERS: Supporters during the election night of Donald Trump cheer

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