Christine Lagarde: International order is “in danger”
Without naming President Donald Trump, Lagarde argued that Washington started to lose confidence that the rules worked in its favor
European Central Bank (ECB) president Christine Lagarde warned on Thursday in New York that the international order is “in danger” because the United States has begun to doubt the rules-based system it long supported, in remarks delivered as she received Columbia University’s Wolfgang Friedmann Memorial Award.
Speaking at a ceremony hosted at The University Club of New York, the ECB president pushed back against calls for a “new world order,” describing them as a return to “old patterns of coercion and mercantilism.”
Lagarde framed her argument in the historical development of the modern international system, saying it began to take shape in the 18th century as new actors emerged, pointing to the United States, Haiti and newly independent Latin American nations. In her account, those upheavals helped advance ideas that limited the use of force and embedded principles such as self-determination—principles she said are now “at stake.”
Without naming President Donald Trump, Lagarde argued that Washington started to lose confidence that the rules worked in its favor, and distilled the risk in a single line: “When the guarantor of an order begins to doubt it, that order is in danger.” As an illustration of unavoidable interdependence, she cited last year’s attempt by the U.S. to impose tariffs on China, followed by “significant exemptions within weeks.”
Lagarde said the system’s rules “stopped evolving at the pace of the world” and urged reforms aimed at restoring trust, including deeper bilateral and regional arrangements.
She did not directly address her day-to-day role at the ECB in the speech. The remarks follow reporting by the Financial Times that Lagarde is considering leaving before the end of her term, which runs until October 2027, as cited by outlets that relayed the report.
