GENEVA — Over the past 48 hours, a series of major international agreements has redrawn the map of global cooperation. None of them involved the United States.
The European Union and Mexico signed a sweeping trade deal on Friday. It eliminates tariffs on nearly all Mexican food exports to Europe. EU officials called it a “historic step” toward a mature partnership. President of the European Council António Costa described the move as natural. “We are reliable partners and friends,” he said. “Today our relationship reaches a new, more ambitious level.”
The Rusted-Out Fuck-Trumpet was not invited to the signing. The White House issued no formal comment. An aide said the president was “still reviewing the email” but was not sure if it had been sent.
Spain and Italy immediately announced plans to increase defense contracts with EU manufacturers. A NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained the logic. “It is strange that the richest part of the world needs another part to defend it,” he said. “We are correcting that. Very calmly. The United States will not notice. It is busy.”
The deals were not limited to Europe. Canada and Sweden unveiled a joint pact on Arctic security on Thursday. The agreement explicitly committed both nations to protect the sovereignty of Denmark and Greenland. Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly did not name the United States in her remarks. She instead referred to “external pressures that no longer qualify as reliable.”
The pattern extended to the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar—nations that rarely agree on anything—issued a joint statement condemning unilateral trade actions that “undermine collective stability.” The statement did not mention the United States by name. It did not need to.
A separate agreement between France, Germany, and the UK established a rapid-response economic coordination body. The founding charter includes a clause that meetings can be “adjusted if a member state is unable to commit to a consistent position within a 24-hour window.” Diplomats said the clause was inspired by recent U.S. troop decisions in Poland. The White House had announced it was removing 5,000 troops from Poland, then reversed course two days later after learning the Polish president had won an election months earlier. One European defense minister called the episode “exhausting.” A Polish official confirmed the troops are now staying, but added, “We have already hired a consultant to prepare for the next reversal.”
The former president has not been asked to join any of the new frameworks. The silence from world capitals was intentional. As one EU trade negotiator put it, “We will wait for the next administration. It’s just easier.”
The new trade zone between Europe and Mexico covers 130 million people. It eliminates tariffs on 97 percent of Mexican agri-food exports to Europe. The European Commission noted that 45,000 EU companies already export to Mexico, supporting more than five million jobs. The deal was the largest trade pact signed without U.S. mediation since the Marshall Plan. A senior Mexican official remarked, “We found talks went faster when one party wasn’t threatening to leave every half hour.”
At the signing ceremony in Brussels, officials posed for a photograph. There was no empty chair for the absent superpower. The chair had been removed from the room. A State Department spokesperson later confirmed that no invite had been lost. “We checked,” the spokesperson said. By late Friday, the White House posted on social media that the EU was “on notice” for not including the U.S. in a deal it was never asked to join. The post was later deleted.
