The Internationalism

Internationalism No. 84, February 2026 Page 10 With the leverage of reciprocal tariffs, announced on liberation day in April and implemented from August, Donald Trump has so far wrested around fifteen advantageous bilateral agreements with the United Kingdom, the EU, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Australia, Argentina, and other smaller countries in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Due to its unique characteristics, the agreement with Malaysia stands out and is considered by the White House a model, demonstrating the strategic ambitions of the tariff war. An Article 5 At the end of October, the Malaysian government hosted the 47 th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), celebrating the accession of East Timor as its 11 th member. At the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, Trump announced two framework agreements with Vietnam and Thailand, and two reciprocal trade agreements with Malaysia and Cambodia. These results went relatively ...

Internationalism No. 84, February 2026 Page 2 We have often reflected on the memorandum that Charles de Gaulle submitted to American President Dwight Eisenhower in September 1958, at the beginning of the Fifth Republic. Referring to the recent events of the Suez crisis of 1956 and the ongoing confrontation in the Taiwan Strait with Beijing’s bombardment of the Quemoy Islands, De Gaulle considered NATO’s organisation and area of responsibility limited to the North Atlantic to be insufficient. This strategic horizon was too narrow, as if what was happening in the Middle East or Africa did not immediately and directly concern Europe, and as if France’s indivisible responsibilities did not extend to Africa, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific . The proposal was for a three-member directorate comprising France, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The directorate would have discussed and taken joint decisions on political issues concerning global sec...