End of Pax Americana: Trump's rise reshapes global order
"The Pax America will officially end on Jan. 20, 2025, when the U.S. inaugurates Donald J. Trump as its 47th president. The country and world will be very different because of it. He doesn’t believe in trade or open markets, instead he favours imposing crushing tariffs on U.S. imports — up to levels last seen in the 1930s — even if all economists believe it will bring economic disaster." says former U.S. ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder.
The expert suggests that Trump's return to power will have serious repercussions for the U.S. and the world. "In his first term, Trump made clear he doesn’t buy into Washington’s global leadership role as his predecessors have done. He doesn’t believe in leading — he believes in winning," Daalder wrote in an opinion piece for Politico.
According to him, since 1945, the world as we know it has largely depended on the concept of U.S. leadership, Pax Americana, which aimed to deter adversaries and reassure allies, foster prosperity through open markets and the free flow of goods, capital, people, and ideas, and uphold the defence of freedom, democracy, and the rule of law.
Global leadership led to the establishment of NATO and other alliances, helped reconstruct post-war Europe and Asia, and opened up trade.
"America’s enemies long resisted this singular global role — but the Soviet Union succumbed to its internal contradictions, and China eventually realized it had to integrate into the global economy in order to lift its citizens out of poverty. Even so, Moscow and Beijing have long chafed at Washington’s leadership, and for the past decade, they’ve sought to counter and undermine it. They may now get their wish," the expert assessed.
In his opinion, Trump is not interested in maintaining Pax Americana as his predecessors have done. "He has long seen alliances as protection rackets, where a partnership’s value to the U.S. is how much it gets paid rather than the peace and security it provides. He doesn’t believe in trade or open markets, instead he favours imposing crushing tariffs on U.S. imports — up to levels last seen in the 1930s — even if all economists believe it will bring economic disaster," wrote Daalder.
He added that Donald Trump is also far from being interested in defending democracy and the rule of law, and indeed, he deeply admires strongmen who stand against these values.
Europe left to its own devices? "Washington is unlikely to be of much help"
In Daalder's view, as the U.S. turns away from alliances, Europe will be forced to take its own defence seriously. "Whether they do so will be up to them, of course, but Washington is unlikely to be of much help," he stated.
Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, is the CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and hosts the weekly podcast "World Review with Ivo Daalder."
