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We are in the early stages of a global US de-risking exercise

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US President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum attend a meeting at the White House in Washington, on Jan 9.

Social distancing from the world’s hegemon is a painful business, especially if you are an ally.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Edward Luce

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The world until recently believed that US-China decoupling was on the way. It turns out that most countries are now scrambling to de-risk from America.

As

US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell,

or

Denmark, one of America’s most loyal allies,

can attest, pacifying US President Donald Trump gets you only so far. It buys time, but is no substitute for having protection against a rogue superpower. We are thus in the early stages of an accelerating process of US de-risking.

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