Greenland clash risks undermining America’s place in world economic order

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Escalating tensions over Greenland are supercharging a dynamic that was already under way: a shift in the world economic order that had put the U.S. at the center of the global economy.

For investors the world over, America has long been a beacon of safety when uncertainty reigns, a nation whose deep and liquid financial markets are the premier destination for capital and home of a currency that is the lingua franca of international transactions. That is changing. Trump’s combative economic and foreign policies are compelling countries to invest elsewhere, spend more on defense, make new trade alliances, and rethink the U.S.

as the primary economic force around which to build their economies, security and futures. Tuesday’s market action provided a taste of what could come. Stocks fell around the world, but the U.S.

experienced some of the sharpest declines, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreating 871 points, or 1.8%, the S&P 500 dropping 2.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq sliding 2.4%. Bonds sold off globally, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury to just below 4.3%. The dollar extended recent declines.

The sharp declines in Treasurys and weakness in the dollar were especially notable: In times of trouble, investors have habitually flocked to the safe haven of the U.S. Tuesday, they were heading in the other direction. “The U.S.

is plainly for a lot of international investors becoming a less friendly place to do business with, and that is likely to have an impact on investment decisions going forward," said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank. The power of the American economy makes it tough to dent, nevermind topple. The “sell America" trade last