Elections are approaching in the United States, and incumbent President Donald Trump will have to roll up his sleeves if he wants to win because his country is in chaos.
Although it seemed that his re-election was practically inevitable, the events that marked the past and the beginning of this year show that his chair in the White House shook dangerously.
What are the problems that Trump has faced?
1. Covid-19
In the first place – the coronavirus. Since the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, America has recorded a record of 1,816,897 cases of infection, 105,557 deaths, and 535,238 recovers, according to Worldofmeters.com. In all three categories, the United States is on the first place of this blacklist and makes about a fifth of the total 6,172,302 cases of infection globally, while the share of deaths is about a third.
2. WHO
He then announced on April 15 that he was suspending WHO funding. He accused the world organization of promoting “Chinese disinformation.” He assessed that this led to a greater spread of the “Chinese virus” epidemic, as Trump calls it than would otherwise have happened.
At the press conference, Trump said that the United States will sever relations with the WHO and that the funds intended for that organization will be redirected to others.
The pandemic, however, did not only affect the trade war. Unemployment has been recorded in the United States, which has not been remembered since the Great Depression. In April, more than 20 million Americans lost their jobs, and the unemployment rate was more than three times higher since the coronavirus pandemic shook the global economy.
3. CHINA
Trade and the coronavirus are not the only fields of conflict between the US and China. The second hotspot is the South China Sea. China has excellent territorial pretensions and the United States now and then lets a warship to cruise the disputed waters, invoking the principle of freedom of navigation. Such “provocations” are frequent on both sides, and it is not expected that these conflicts will subside soon.
As for Taiwan, the situation changed significantly in June last year, when the United States made it clear that Taiwan was an independent state. Then, the Chinese Minister of Defense, Wei Feng, said that the Chinese army would react if someone dared to separate Taiwan from China.
4. OPEN SKY
Trump, who considers himself a “great negotiator,” has so far withdrawn his country from so many agreements that it seems that the United States will remain an isolated island in the ocean of the international community.
He announced on May 21 that the United States would withdraw from the international Open Skies agreement in half a year, allowing unarmed, reconnaissance flights over the signatory countries. This time, Trump shifted the blame for that to Russia, stating that it is violating the agreement and that the recordings made during the flights can be obtained faster and cheaper from American or commercial satellites.
5. CLIMATE AGREEMENT
In June 2017, Trump announced that his country was withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on reducing greenhouse gases, shifting the blame to Russia again. He said that Russia did not respect the agreement and that the United States would withdraw from it immediately.
The United States thus began the process of withdrawing from the climate agreement in November last year, of which it formally informed the UN – the withdrawal will take effect in a year.
6. AGREEMENT WITH IRAN
In early May 2018, Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from Iran’s nuclear agreement, signed during the time of his predecessor, Barack Obama. He also announced that he would impose economic sanctions on Iran, which were lifted in 2015 after the signing of the “rotten” agreement, as he called it. A year later, Iran also announced a “partial withdrawal.”
7. AGREEMENT INF
The United States announced the decision to withdraw from the Agreement on Medium-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) on February 1 last year, leaving Russia a deadline to correct the violation of the agreement or the withdrawal will be permanent, as Trump stated.
This agreement is especially important because it represents the cornerstone of international security since the United States and the Soviet Union signed it in 1987. It bans the development and use of ground-based nuclear weapons with a range of between 500 and 5,000 kilometers.
8. NATO
Trump also has a problem with the military alliance. His administration decided in November last year to reduce the financing of the NATO budget from 22 to 16 percent of the total amount. The losses will have to be compensated by Europe and Canada.
Trump has repeatedly insisted and criticized individual members – like Germany – to increase their contributions to two percent of GDP. Germany has agreed to increase its spending, but in 2031, and currently, only six countries in the NATO coffers allocate two percent of GDP – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Greece, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
9. G7
Today, the American president postponed the G7 summit, which was supposed to be held in June, at least until September. He said that he wanted to invite Russia, Australia, India, and South Korea to that gathering. He believed that the group of the most industrially developed countries no longer represented what was happening in the world.
10. PROTESTS IN THE USA
A new problem faced by the Trump administration on the eve of the election is fierce, violent protests across the United States over the death of African-American George Floyd during a police arrest. Protests spread to several cities, from New York to Los Angeles, and curfews were introduced in 25 places in 16 states.
Trump and his Democratic rival in the presidential election, Joseph Biden, also spoke with Floyd’s family. Although Trump did not reveal details, the brother of the deceased Philonis Floyd said that their conversation was “speedy”.
– He didn’t even give me a chance to speak. It was difficult, “said Philonis, adding that he then turned to Biden, asking him to bring justice in the event of his brother’s death.
