As President Trump skips the opening ceremony, allies and rivals alike arrive in Italy with more than medals on their minds—turning Olympic competition into a proxy test of global power, pride, and political rupture.
When the Winter Olympics open this week in Milan, President Donald Trump will not be seated among world leaders in San Siro Stadium. Yet his presence—political, rhetorical, and strategic—will be felt across the ice rinks, ski slopes, and locker rooms of the Games.
For many of America’s closest allies, defeating the United States will no longer be just a sporting triumph. It will be a statement.
Trump’s second-term foreign policy—marked by public clashes with allies, unpredictable tariff threats, revived ambitions over Greenland, and a combative tone toward Europe—has unsettled the traditional global order. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently described the moment as an international “rupture,” and the Olympics are shaping up to be one of its most visible stages.
“Beating the Americans isn’t just a game anymore,” said Charlie Angus, a former Canadian lawmaker and outspoken Trump critic. “In this climate, it feels existential.”
