Climate Change and WTO challenge Trump's America on global leadership

Even Trump says he has an open mind on Climate Change, transcript of his interview with the New York Times suggests that he is likely to put money ahead of climate.

Trump has also vowed to boost the oil and gas industries, including pipelines from Canada and more lands opened up for shale gas fracking.

As pointed out in The Economist leader, The burning question: Climate change in the era of Trump (26 November, 2016), the historic Paris Agreement, supported by 197 nations, is nevertheless likely to endure with or without the United States. Countries threatened by rising sea levels are unlikely to sit tight. Europe's green movement is unlikely to wither. China, the world's worst polluter, is also taking a lead in de-carbonization driven by regime-threatening pollution fears and geopolitical energy security considerations.

As President-elect, Trump has openly declared ditching the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was a US-initiative in the first place. Notwithstanding initial denial of World Trade Organization chief Roberto Azevedo, Trump has also hinted at leaving the WTO, which the US was instrumental in founding, if the US cannot renegotiate its terms of trade. The WTO includes 164 countries worldwide and has been the cornerstone of global trade for many decades until its primacy is challenged in recent years by regional and bilateral agreements. China has since been a great beneficiary of WTO which she initially joined at great costs to herself by having to open up her market for many products.

All signs are that a Trump America is likely to retract from its leading role of maintaining the existing global order, unless its intervention can be monetized. This is now greatly worrying allies and as well as rivals. .

China has been seeking to gain more influence as an integral part of the existing global order. America's retreat from it to focus everything on "America First" is likely to hand over much of global soft power to a rising China as a defender of the global commons.

This would have game-changing consequences for an America-dominated world order.