Time to change our view of the world – Baroness Valerie Amos

Report on the AEJ UK journalists meeting at Europe House on 19 March 2025 – from Peter Norman

Baroness Valerie Amos, formerly a minister in the UK Labour government of Tony Blair and United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, says U.S. President Donald Trump’s overturning of the rules-based world order can have a positive effect as it offers the chance of a reset and new opportunities in relations between developed western countries and the Global South.

Actions by the Trump administration are forcing Europe to rethink its approach to security and development policy and take long overdue decisions which until now were put in the “too difficult tray”.

While there are clear downsides – especially for the poorest countries — from the freeze in US aid ordered by President Trump, this is also a moment of opportunity for Europe to forge new relationships with partners in the Global South, she said.

Speaking on “The Rise of the Global South and its consequences for Europe” at a meeting of the UK Section of the AEJ in London on March 19th, Baroness Amos argued that the rules-based international order had been fragmenting for some time.

We are witnessing an emerging alliance of the United States, Russia, and China seeking to get rid of rules which countries such as the UK, Europe, Canada and Japan want to retain.

Concluding brief opening remarks, she asked what these changes mean and, if they amount to a competition, which side might win? This prompted a lively discussion with the AEJ members and London-based foreign correspondents present.

But what is the Global South? Baroness Amos drew a distinction between large countries like Brazil, India and South Africa whose focus is on creating strong trade and investment relations with the west and smaller countries in the Caribbean or South Pacific whose agenda is shaped by the climate crisis and which need a strong rules-based international order to continue.

Global South countries have different interests and challenges. Some had belonged to the historic non-aligned movement, that emerged after World War Two to challenge US imperialism. Some, such as members of the G-20, are already large economies but want more influence in international affairs. Then there are the vulnerable countries which need support.

The broad thrust of Baroness Amos’s remarks was that Europe and like minded countries need to realise that the basis of their relationship with countries of the Global South has changed.

She noted that the reaction among many Global South countries to recent development aid cuts – such as the immediate US freezing of aid payments and the UK decision to cut its aid budget to 0.3% of gross national income in 2027 – was instructive: it was far less “fiery” than might have been expected. While non-government organisations were hostile to the cuts, affected governments had “very often” shown understanding for the problems donor countries faced and instead requested discussions on issues such as trade and investment in a reset of their relations with the west.

Countries of the Global South have frequently been “put off” by the nature of their discussions about development, complaining about double standards and patronising attitudes in western countries. The failure of the west to live up to promises and provide vaccines in a timely manner during the Covid pandemic scarred relationships and prompted many global south countries to see China as an attractive investment partner where relationships lacked overtones of charity and were more transactional.

At the same time, the consensus in western democracies in favour of development aid has weakened. Although the immediate cuts in US aid would hit poorest countries hard, by stopping health programmes for example, they could also prompt recipient countries to re-examine their own priorities and how better to spend their own money.

Baroness Amos suggested that leaders and governments in the Global South are more interested in receiving advice on how to promote economic development than hand-outs, opening the way for new style partnerships between donor and recipient countries.

Admitting that hers is “not a popular view”, Baroness Amos said she sees “real opportunities … as do countries in the Global South”. More work could be done to put in place mechanisms to hold governments to account. Helping countries create decent statistical systems and accountability would minimise corruption.

She noted that there was talk of the US pulling out of the World Bank. This too could create opportunities – not least for the UK, which could act as a bridge builder between countries wanting to move away from the rules-based order and those which wished to retain it.

When asked whether China would take the place of the West in providing foreign aid, Baroness Amos made a plea for the west to engage and work with China in countries where China has relationships. She worried that the west’s present discourse with China focused on “technical developments, threats and fears”.

Baroness Amos was a guest at the first AEJ UK lunch meeting back in Europe House – London home of the EU Commission and European Parliament – since 2019 when Brexit complicated Britain’s relationship with the rest of Europe.