World order strained but not broken

Donald Trump came to office threatening to tear up trade deals, extort payment from US military allies, end the Iran nuclear accord and build a wall on America's southern border.

He ended his first year still contemplating a strike on North Korea, angrily cancelling a planned visit to old ally Britain and reportedly using a vulgar term to refer to African countries.
But Trump was not elected to impress foreigners: his slogan was "America First" and he hired oil executive Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State to build a foreign policy around it.

Many of the more exotic planks on his program have been forgotten or cut down to size, but there has been forward movement on some key dossiers left open by his predecessor Barack Obama.
From day one until day 365, much of Washington's foreign policy community has been aghast and international supporters of rules-based multilateral diplomacy dismayed.

But one year on from Trump's inauguration, the liberal international order remains more or less intact -- though Trump's antagonistic style certainly has not traveled well.

According to a Gallup poll released Thursday, since Trump took office on January 20 last year world approval of US leadership has plummeted from 48 to a new low of 30 percent.