Brutish, bullying, imperialistic: the Ugly American is back | Steven Greenhouse

For decades, president after president has sought to rid the US of its image as a bullying, imperialistic nation. But with his blustering, often brutish behavior toward other countries, Donald Trump has rapidly revived that notion. Under Trump, the Ugly American is back.

Trump has done this by using US power in aggressive and arrogant ways – by attacking other countries’ policies and then threatening to punish them if they don’t bow to his demands. Trump is doing exactly what international law says national leaders shouldn’t be doing. He has repeatedly inserted himself into other countries’ affairs, browbeating their leaders, berating their policies and disrespecting their sovereignty. Too often, Trump treats other countries as vassals of the US (and of his ego).

The phrase “the Ugly American” was popularized by a 1958 novel with that title; it described the insensitivity and ineptness of US diplomats who often didn’t speak the language where they were stationed and rarely spoke to the people there. Over the years, that term was increasingly used to describe insensitive and arrogant US tourists and insensitive and arrogant US policies toward other nations.

Trump has acted like an Ugly American in many ways. He has interfered in Brazil’s internal affairs by all but ordering it to drop the prosecution of its rightwing former president (and Trump buddy) Jair Bolsonaro for conspiring to stage a coup to return to power. When Brazil didn’t drop the prosecution – Bolsonaro was convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison – Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods.

In recent weeks, Trump has played the Ugly, even Crazed, American toward Canada when he grew outraged after seeing a television ad, sponsored by the province of Ontario, that contained excerpts of a Ronald Reagan speech critical of tariffs. In retaliation, Trump imposed an additional 10% tariff on Canadian goods. That move further angered Canadians who were already furious about Trump’s absurd idea to make Canada the 51st state.

Trump has also sought to bully Colombia. He said the US would cut off aid to that country after its president, Gustavo Petro, complained that the US had struck a Colombian fishing boat and killed a fisher as part of Trump’s campaign of attacking boats allegedly transporting drugs. Using ugly, undiplomatic language, Trump called Colombia’s president an “illegal drug leader”.

Simultaneously come Trump’s on-again, off-again threats to launch military strikes against Venezuela. They’re a reminder of Washington’s baldly imperialistic interventions in, among other places, Vietnam, Granada and Iran, with the 1953 coup ousting a leftist prime minster. Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, is corrupt, repressive and authoritarian, and stole an election, but military intervention would be a throwback to the worst days of Ugly Americanism.

Trump has also interfered in the European Union’s affairs. In an era when social media is overflowing with so many untruths that it makes it hard for democratic governments to function, even survive, the European Union has understandably required social media platforms to weed out lies and other disinformation. But Trump has lambasted the EU’s Digital Services Act, asserting that it discriminates against US tech companies. His administration has angered the EU by threatening to impose new tariffs and restrict the visas of some EU officials.

Trump has improperly interfered in Argentina’s politics by saying he would grant a $40bn bailout, but might pull that money if the party of Argentina’s rightwing president, Javier Milei, didn’t win legislative elections on 26 October. “If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina,” Trump said. Millei’s party won, with an interventionist Trump taking some credit, saying: “He had a lot of help from us.”

Trump’s vice-president, JD Vance, interfered in German politics by attacking mainstream parties for building a “firewall” against letting far-right parties such as the AfD into a governing coalition. In a speech last month to Israel’s Knesset, Trump interfered in that country’s politics in an extraordinary way, calling on Israel’s president to pardon the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on the corruption charges he’s facing.

In Trump’s hour-long tirade to the UN general assembly in September, he sought to play Boss of the World. He told the UN’s 193 member nations to jettison their climate change policies, saying concerns about global warming are “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”. He added: “If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail and I’m really good at predicting things.” Trump told the assembled diplomats they should sharply curb immigration, and in an ugly slap in the face, he said: “Your countries are going to hell.”

Even as many U.N. delegates grimaced, Trump said: “On the world stage, America is respected again like it has never been respected before.” Donald Trump can dream, but Ishaan Tharoor, a global affairs columnist for the Washington Post, wrote on X that a senior foreign diplomat had told him: “This man is stark, raving mad. Do Americans not see how embarrassing this is?”

Trump’s Ugly American policies have done grievous damage to Washington’s image abroad. Foreigners’ favorability ratings of the US plummeted in a Pew poll, and 51% of Europeans see Trump as an enemy of Europe, according to a Le Grand Continent/Cluster 17 survey. In a diplomatic loss to the US, Vietnam is embracing Russia as a partner because its leaders are so upset with Trump’s tariffs and other policies. For similar reasons, India is rushing to improve ties with China.

On the refugee front, Trump has adopted policies that are plainly biased. Slamming the door on refugees, he has slashed annual quotas from 125,000 to 7,500. He is overwhelmingly rejecting those fleeing persecution and war, yearning to breathe free, while favoring white Afrikaners from South Africa. Amnesty International said that “Trump’s racist refugee cap abandons refugees around the world”, while Human Rights First called the new policy “blatantly racist”.

Trump has become the 800lb gorilla of world affairs, throwing around Washington’s extraordinary weight in ways that injure and infuriate other countries – by imposing tariffs willy-nilly, by blowing up boats in the Caribbean, by berating other countries’ policies and leaders. Trump hasn’t earned other countries’ respect so much as their fear and ire. Much of the world is alarmed about what the swaggering gorilla will do next, and much of the world questions the gorilla’s judgment. Why is he sabotaging the global economy with his tariff mania? Why has he embraced Vladimir Putin for so long? Why has he railed against anyone and everyone trying to fight global warming?

One must admit that even with his Ugly American tendencies, Trump sometimes does the right thing, but often belatedly. He finally put pressure on Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire. He finally imposed some meaningful sanctions on Russia (although his support of beleaguered Ukraine remains far too tepid).

Unfortunately, it’s not easy for other countries to stand up to Trump’s bullying. It’s difficult to resist when the leader of the world’s most powerful nation is so uninhibited about wielding his power. But we’ve seen mighty China stand up to Trump on tariffs, while Brazil’s president rebuffed Trump’s demand to drop charges against Bolsonaro. Even tiny Denmark has stood up to Trump’s imperialistic demands on Greenland.

Let’s hope that more countries stand up to Trump’s wrong-headed, bullying diplomacy. And let’s hope that many more Americans, including the cowed members of Congress, stand up to Trump when they see how colossally harmful his Ugly American policies are.

There’s no denying that Trump’s Ugly Americanism will leave the US and the world worse off. His tariffs have slowed global economic growth and increased tensions with dozens of countries. America’s allies have grown increasingly angry and distrustful and will be less willing to cooperate with the US. With Trump smashing so many diplomatic norms, Russia and China are feeling freer to act as they wish. And Trump’s cozying up to autocrats while showing coolness toward human rights activists will hold back democracy movements worldwide.

It’s ugly stuff.

• Steven Greenhouse is a journalist and author, focusing on labor and the workplace, as well as economic and legal issues