EDITORIAL: New leaders benefit from anti-Trump platform

US President Donald Trump has not only upended international trade, his policies have also been the reference point for political developments in countries around the world. 

The two recent elections in Canada and Australia saw a resurgence of liberal values and a rejection of Trump-like policies, though obviously domestic social, cost-of-living and economic dynamics played a predominant role. 

As The New York Times described it, there has been a new trend in global elections, “The anti-Trump bump. President Trump has been back in power for only three months but already his policies, including imposing tariffs and upending alliances have rippled into domestic political battles around the world.” 

Liberals have been horrified by the Trump administration’s attempted suppression of political dissent on universities through the withholding of funds, its defiance of court rulings and its witch-hunt against immigrants as well as the summary dismissal of thousands of government employees by head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk.

Conservative leaders in both Canada and Australia, who were in the ascendant a few months ago, received a thrashing at the polls because of their association, however oblique with Trumpist policies such as drastically downsizing the state. 

Last week Mark Carney, former governor of the Canadian central bank and leader of the Liberal Party, was elected prime minister of Canada. In January after the resignation of former prime minister Justin Trudeau, the Liberal Party was trailing in the polls while the opposition Conservative Party was making strong gains and would have won with a decisive victory if an election were held at that point.

Carney was buoyed by his strong statements of standing up to Trump who has expressed the wish to make Canada the 51st state of the US through annexation. Trump also imposed crippling tariffs on his neighbour with whom the US has had close economic ties, raising the spectre of a recession and a spiral of rising prices. Carney met Trump on Tuesday for economic and security talks.

Carney’s opponent, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who lost the seat he had held for 20 years, seemed at first to mirror Trump’s populism and criticism of establishment elites but quickly backtracked after Canadians’ anger against Trump mounted.

On Saturday Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of the centre left Labor Party won a landslide victory over his Liberal National Coalition opponent Peter Dutton, who failed to retain the seat he had held for 24 years. While Albanese diplomatically refrained from mentioning Trump’s policies directly, Dutton associated himself with Trump’s policies — such as hardline anti-immigration and his initial plan to slash public sector jobs. He also ran what critics said was an ineffective, inconsistent and incoherent campaign.

Three or four months before the election it seemed the increasingly unpopular Albanese would lose to Dutton but together with his other policy proposals he inspired confidence in his ability to defend Australia against Trump’s policies, which seem irrational given that the US has a trade surplus with Australia.

The New York Times also reports that the party of Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his People’s Action Party won the election against the background of Trump and his tariffs. He had warned that US tariffs would hit the country’s open economy hard, resulting in more shocks and slower growth, and seemed to offer the electorate a steady hand to navigate the stormy seas.

In this new world order any hint of an association with Trump seems to be a liability among certain circles. Distaste with the US he is creating has led to a decline in European tourism to the US and a boycott of American goods in some countries. Even in the US there are rumblings of disapproval, with Trump’s ratings after 100 days in office plummeting to the lowest for any modern US president at this point. His approval rating stood at about 44% down from more than 51% when he took office in January.