The United States has scaled back its role on the world stage, taken actions that are undermining efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic and have left the international community without a traditional global leader, according to experts, diplomats and analysts.
The United States – usually at the head of the table helping to coordinate in global crises – refused to take place at the virtual international meetings called by the World Health Organization and the European Union to coordinate work on potentially life-saving vaccines.
Former world leaders warn that the Trump administration risks alienating allies by politicizing the deadly pandemic with its drive to punish China and get other nations to choose sides.
The administration’s decision to halt funding for WHO, the world’s best placed body to coordinate the global response to the pandemic rampage, shocked global health officials.
Disbelief and sadness: And where in the past the presidents of the United States have offered a firm voice, observers from Asia Pacific to Europe have expressed disbelief, amusement and sadness at the briefings on President Donald Trump’s virus, stating that they are deeply harmful to the image of the United States overseas.
U.S. officials reject, urging both funding to fight Covid-19 and the work Trump is doing across the Group of Seven and bilaterally – conducting more than 50 calls with world leaders. But experts say that funding without comprehensive global coordination can slow global progress.
At a time when nearly 4 million people around the world have been infected with the virus, diplomats say that many countries crave the firm leadership of the United States which they have seen at historic times and in previous epidemics, citing the President’s response. Barack Obama at Ebola and President George W. Bush’s work on HIV / AIDS.
“They want the United States to lean more,” said one European diplomat. “We know they are doing a lot with countries, including developing countries, bilaterally … but many countries are yearning for the decisive US effort we saw when the Berlin Wall fell. Many countries believe that this is one of those crucial moments in history and the United States has always driven in those times “.
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