Ian Bremmer’s warning on America’s brand: ‘The United States is not respected’

As America hurtles toward its 250th birthday, the world is watching. Ian Bremmer, Eurasia Group President and PBS host, gives his unvarnished read on the state of Brand America. He shares how he’s advising business and political leaders around the globe, why he believes the US is overdue for a revolution, and what the widening gap between American wealth and American opportunity means for the country’s standing in the world. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with today’s top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. Things like trust in the U.S. dollar, English as the default language, the primacy of U.S. entertainment and music and global culture, all of that is evidence that America’s impact and appeal remains predominant. But the U.S. brand, where it stands, is not quite as stable as it might look if you just talk about those things. Other countries in the world don’t trust the United States. You talk to the Europeans and they’ll tell you how angry they are about the way the U.S. has treated them on trade, on Greenland, on Ukraine. I was with the Japanese recently, high-level officials, and they told me they felt like we’ve extorted them in their trade deal by demanding $550 billion of investment in the U.S. or else, and we get to decide where it goes. They don’t. It’s on and on and on. Countries around the world certainly understand American power, but the United States is not respected around the world and is not viewed as dependable. You have talked about this for a while. This is not just what’s happened in the last year or so with the second Trump administration, but a trend that’s been ongoing. You’re rig