Trump’s playbook threatens US as foreign allies reevaluate 'endgame': British intel expert

During former President Joe Biden's four years in the White House, he made it clear that he considered the United States' alliances with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members crucial from a defense/national security standpoint. President Donald Trump, in contrast, is clashing with longtime NATO members, and those tensions were evident during the recent 2026 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.

The UK has been the United States' closest NATO ally. But Alexander Dragonetti, a former British diplomat, offers a biting critique of Trump's foreign policy in an op-ed published by the iPaper on January 28. And he warns that trust in the U.S. among longtime allies is plummeting.

"Individually, Trump's attacks against allies — threats of tariffs, insulting British troops, downplaying NATO, a photo-op with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin in Alaska last August, sanctioning the International Criminal Court, a public feud with Canada, or setting up a U.S.-led 'Board of Peace' — might have been survivable," Dragonetti explains. "Taken together, they have a cumulative effect."

Dragonetti argues that Trump is applying the ideas in his 1987 book "The Art of the Deal" to foreign policy — and with flawed results.

"Trump's playbook, outlined decades ago in 'The Art of the Deal,' delivers rapid wins," the former diplomat observes. "Opponents often feel lucky to settle for more than they'd ever been willing to give away. Unpredictability and shock produce immediate results, raising the credibility of outcomes previously seen as unthinkable. By his own criteria, the method works. But these short-term gains come at a cost."

Dragonetti adds, "Each surprise move erodes trust, the glue which holds alliances together. Greenland wasn't just a shock — it exposed a pattern that had been quietly wearing down decades of goodwill. Trust is a finite commodity, built over decades but liable to collapse in months — and quick wins draw it down fast."

The ex-diplomat stresses that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's warning during a WEF 2026 speech in Davos are a wake-up call for the U.S. and its allies. Carney told attendees, "The old order is not coming back. We shouldn't mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy."

"As Trump is finding out," Dragonetti writes, "transactions can get you through a single round. But trust wins you the game. In an era returning to Great Power politics, the UK and European allies are now reevaluating who they want to take to the endgame."

Alexander Dragonetti's full iPaper op-ed is available at this link.