The president of the United States, Donald Trump, took possession of the position just over three months ago under the promise of “making the US again”. That phrase, more than a campaign motto, has been the founding basis of a movement with nationalist dyes that today dominates an International agenda of economic, political and social protectionism. In that line, the first 100 days of his government have marked a kind of paradigm change- or as the most pessimistic, a dismantling- on the world order granted after World war II when Washington rose as the leading voice of an international community strengthened after the defeat of German Nazism.
After the years that followed the most bloody war conflict in the history of humanity, it was in 1947 when the then US president Harry Truman presided over the creation of global institutions that have defined international order during the last 80 years.
At that time, Truman exposed his doctrine before Congress by ensuring that “it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who resist the subjugation by armed minorities or by external pressures.”
In a few years, the United States helped establish and lead the United Nations, NATO, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It also contributed to the reconstruction of Europe with channeled help through the Marshall Plan and financed the reconstruction of Japan, a country to which an atomic bomb had launched.
The consensus in the American streets was clear. Democratic and Republican presidents supported these institutions during generations. Sometimes they complained about cost, but they believed that these institutions strengthened the United States as the main world superpower.
However, the world we know today seems to be fatigued of the answers that this global system involved despite the developments and the ability to prevent conflicts of the same magnitude, with a group increasing that considers them insufficient. The main figure of this movement is precisely Donald Trump, who in this second term is advancing aggressively in reducing the role of the United States in the world, based on his “United States First” agenda.
The Republican has said that he sees this network of alliances, treated and being soft as faces and obsolete relics that limit the ability to action of the country.
“I am not aligned with anyone. I am aligned with the United States of America and for the sake of the world,” said the president in February.
Trump states that the US should not be the world’s police or guarantee the safety of his allies. On the contrary, he has attacked many of them and threatened to take control of territories ranging from Groenland to Canada, the Panama Canal and the Gaza Strip.
In a strategy that seems to seek more privileges of the international order assuming less responsibilities to sustain it, the president gave clues during his first mandate to want to reduce those global commitments, although this time it has gone much further.
The Republican wants to apply this on all fronts: military, diplomatic and economic. In the military, he wants to end indefinite wars, such as the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Until now, its most significant moment was a meeting at the White House two months ago, where Trump and vice president Vance rebuked Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying that the Ukrainian President had not shown enough gratitude for US help and that he was overestimating the military capacities of Ukraine.
“You are not in a good position. You don’t have the cards now,” Trump told him visibly annoying, Zelenskyy. “You are betting with the lives of millions of people. You are betting with World War third.”
Trump opposes more military assistance to Ukraine and wants a high on permanent fire. However, this has been difficult to achieve, since the fighting continues, and the Russian leader Vladimir Putin has launched some of the greatest air attacks in the war in recent weeks.
Experts believe that a fire stop would give Trump some coverage to withdraw from Ukraine, where the US does not have troops, although he has led the international support effort since the Russian invasion on a large scale in 2022.
But if the war continues and Russia wins more territory, Trump might seem weak, unable to face Russia. This would generate even more doubts about the future of NATO and the willingness of the US to defend Europe.
In the diplomatic front, meanwhile, Trump is promoting several high -risk agreements. Although it is still early in his second term, so far he has not had great successes. Perhaps the most representative was the high on fire between Israel and Hamas, reached when Trump assumed the position in January, but has already collapsed.
Meanwhile, Negotiations with Iran on a nuclear agreement continue in the middle of a White House aimed at the rhythm of the president’s humor Who, according to experts in diplomacy, believes that these complex negotiations can be resolved quickly and with little or no participation of the allies.
This unilateral approach is also reflected in Trump’s commercial policy. Its tariffs, real or threatened, against practically all countries have destabilized the global economy. Many economists say that this has also had an important impact on home, where the US economy contracted 0.3% in the first three months of the year.
Trump believes that the economic power of the US will give you advantage to achieve better conditions in bilateral agreements. His main objective is China, but his unilateral approach has led him to antagonize allied countries that could have helped in a collective effort to isolate it.
Eighty years after the US established the modern global order, foreign policy analysts constantly discuss how it should be updated. The debate often revolves around the US.
