The wave of the Covid-19 epidemic hits the United States. It is hitting New York today, but Detroit (Michigan), Chicago (Illinois), New Orleans (Louisiana) and part of Florida are already seeing the threat becoming clearer.
America is going to have to focus on itself in the coming weeks. The health crisis is therefore likely to accentuate the insular reflex developed over the past three years by the administration of Donald Trump, further excluding Washington from the role of metronome of an international order of which he has been for decades the main beneficiary.
The Republican President gave an illustration of this during his now daily press conference on March 25. A trivial question about the possibility of a ban on the export of medical equipment has fueled a virulent charge against the United States' allies, many of whom in Europe are grappling with the pandemic.
"We make the best equipment in the world, and you have people like the European Union (EU), who don't take it, because they have specifications that don't allow our equipment to be imported (…). They've been playing against us for years and no president has ever done anything about it, " launched the president.
"You know, we're talking about allies. They took advantage of us in many ways, financially and even militarily ", he added. These rantings of the President of the United States are not new. That they are reiterated in the midst of such a global blast underscores the depth of their anchoring in Donald Trump's worldview.
Contrast with the words of his predecessor
For months, the president’s public expression about this pandemic has focused almost exclusively on the United States. Even when the number of cases listed was still marginal. The emptiness of the paragraphs devoted to pandemics in the document intended for the United States' national security strategy published in December 2017 could not be of any help.
The contrast is stark with the words of his predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, held at the United Nations (UN) in September 2014 during the Ebola epidemic. " It is a growing threat to regional and global security "Assured the latter at a meeting devoted to this health crisis.
" If this epidemic is not stopped, this disease could cause a humanitarian catastrophe throughout the region. And at a time when regional crises can quickly become global threats, stopping Ebola is in our common interest. "
