America

PASCUAL SERRANO
The international community is bewildered by the seemingly confusing decisions of Donald Trump and his team, but in my opinion, there is a certain consistency in all of them: the recognition of the United States' failure as a dominant global power and the retreat from its leadership.

The issue of tariffs is probably the most telling. Three decades ago, the United States considered itself the victorious economic power in a globalized world. It believed its global production, sales, and distribution capacity was superior to that of other countries, and that its market dominance was absolute. At the time, free trade agreements were the perfect tools to seize control of other countries' markets. We all remember the debate surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994.

JOSEPH CAMILLERI
Trump's electoral victory is not the momentous or unexpected event that many have made it out to be. It is, however, an unmistakable sign of a society in slow decline in which frustration, anger and bewilderment are reaching epidemic proportions.

The inevitable question is: how did this man manage to be re-elected President of the United States?

This is, after all, a man who was twice impeached as president, who rejected the outcome of the previous election. He is known to have repeatedly lied to the electorate before, during and since his first presidential term. This is a man whose business dealings have long been under a cloud, and who is widely accused of deceit, abuse of power and sexual misconduct.