Since he stormed the ring of politics, Donald Trump has been obsessed with upending the traditional orders, either at home or abroad. 

Since his accession to the presidency of the United States, he has adopted a political line of quasi-Machiavellian attitude that — in his own words, puts the interests of the US above everything before everyone and beyond any price. 

This isolationist direction ushers in the demise of the old-world order that Washington itself set down and led since the end of World War II. 

Trump seems to be playing by the rules charted out in his book “The Art of the Deal,” which might not always succeed and could even backfire against him as volatility depletes confidence. 

And it remains unknown whether any corrective steps will be enough to undo the damage that has already been done, whether at home or abroad! 

Coming to the promised and feared trade war, Trump unleashed a salvo of tariffs on most nations, including desolate islands that have no populations but penguins and fish. 

This was coupled with outsized layoffs of federal employees, indiscriminate crackdown on immigrants, the cancellation of social and humanitarian assistance programs, and threats directed to the social security and health care programs. 

“Since his accession to the presidency of the United States, he has adopted a political line of quasi-Machiavellian attitude that — in his own words, puts the interests of the US above everything before everyone and beyond any price.”

Rise of Neo-Trumpism

On the eve of US’ 250th birthday, Trump declared US independence from the same world that America made. This rebirth of this new America at the hands of Trump might carry in its womb the demise of US greatness and influence, especially with its embrace of colonialism, authoritarian regimes, and snubbing of democratic allies.

Trump’s “nascent order” diverges with the traditional norm of employing carrots and sticks to doing business and obtaining desired outcomes. 

Trump uses threats, rebukes, and, sometimes, bluffs as alternatives to achieve maximum gains from the bargain. This is evident from the wave of tariffs he imposed on major trade partners; some of them strategic allies and neighbors, and some competitors. In normal situations, these measures are slapped on adversaries as penalties.

Features of Trumpism

The key features of neo-Trumpism are outlined by acts such as withdrawal from major international agencies, giving strategic allies the cold shoulder, threatening neighbors, and pulling out of conflict zones. 

A complete deviation from the traditional structure of the set world order risks a deterioration in international relations. It further exposes the US as a potential security danger, or rather a prick on the side of the western and eastern allies. 

Neo-Trumpism portends a chaotic upheaval, causing massive tectonic movements in the global order — the pooling of new anti-US blocs, changes in power centers, and alternative powers filling the void left by the US.

Duplicity of Trumpism

Trump’s global political vision — if there is one — is vague and distorted than his economic one – although both are retroactive and disturbing. His isolationist orientation is reminiscent of the US neutral stance before World War II. 

And his protectionist economic policies are like those adopted by the US during its industrial rise as a major competitor to Europe, on which the US has slapped high tariffs. 

Trump claims that these measures are necessary to encourage investors to move their factories and industries to the US, admitting that the American people will feel the pinch during the transition period. 

But he feigns ignorance to the fact that incentives are not the only temptation that attracts money makers, nor pleasant words or threats. It is a whole package that also includes the cost of living, wages, rents, mortgage, prices of materials, which are the highest in the US and are out of Trump’s control. 

Consequences of Trumpism

Although it seems that he is lacking strategic mentality, Trump might be unconsciously rebuilding a new world that belongs only to the strongest, or the fittest. Hence, his respect for and rapprochement with Russia and China, and disparaging of the small and weak states. 

But this theory is also hazy. His history as a real estate broker denotes that he is a master in wrecking, disrupting, and deal-making, but with no plausible achievements.

Besides the fluctuations, instability and uncertainty that might build up during this transition, Trumpism risks jeopardizing the trust the US has enjoyed for decades and accordingly destabilize the whole world’s economy.

“Trump’s ‘nascent order’ diverges with the traditional norm of employing carrots and sticks to doing business and obtaining desired outcomes. Trump uses threats, rebukes, and, sometimes, bluffs as alternatives to achieve maximum gains from the bargain.”

Withdraw from Multilateralism

Trump’s claims that multilateralism and international organizations and treaties are infringing on American sovereignty are baseless and refutable. 

The decision to join such entities is in fact a way of exercising sovereignty and accepting reciprocal obligations in exchange for mutual benefits. And that is the whole purpose of multilateralism. 

Unless the world and regional multilateral institutions endure and withstand this reckless Trumpish storm and take necessary precautions to abate its rage and reverse its drive, they will not be able to rise again when the tempest is over. 

And the allies should be brave enough to learn how to live on their own and find alternatives, without compromising moral values.

Latin America: Source of Migrants & Organized Crime 

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Trump’s attitude has always dubbed the region a source of “the devastating immigration and organized crime.” 

It has turned even comic when the border patrols swapped their mission of intercepting immigrants’ infiltration with seizing the egg contraband. The prices of eggs, which are imported from Mexico, have spiked in the US after the spread of bird flu. 

Trump’s administration is unlikely to prioritize addressing the underlying driving factors of immigration, violence, insecurity, poverty, and climate change–issues exacerbated by endemic corruption and weak governance in Latin and Central America. 

The move will certainly exacerbate the immigration problem and abort the international efforts to address it at its very roots. 

Latin America-US Trade Dynamics

The antagonistic approach Trump showed towards most of the world with imposition of tariffs, or rather sanctions, on most of the world emanated from his belief – “they need us more than we need them.” 

However, the complex Latin American-US trade dynamics quickly proved his experimental penalties wrong. 

Latin America and the Caribbean account for 21.3% of the US total trade in goods, which amounted to a $1.97 trillion in 2023. Mexico is US’ number one trading partner, representing about 16% of the US total trade in goods.

The US total goods trade with Canada is estimated at $762.1 billion in 2024, including 349.4 billion of US exports to the country. The total US trade with Latin America and Canada combined accounts for one third of its trade with the entire world, which is estimated at seven trillion dollars. 

Any attempt to destabilize the flux of this volume of trade on both sides might spark off an economic disaster that could lead up to a recession or collapse. 

Stock Market Reaction

This has been illustrated when the US stock market went reeling under with the news of the tariffs he started to enforce on Canda, Mexico, and China. 

These countries also retaliated by imposing similar rates of tariffs on US imports, spreading fears in US consumer and stock markets. 

Trump immediately suspended his tariffs, temporarily. But this was caused by the tough reaction and stubborn stance he faced from these countries, especially after the prices flared up and the ghost of recession loomed large in the US. 

This has proved that his strategy of bullying will not always bear fruit, especially when he uses it repeatedly. 

Alignment with Authoritarian Leaders

As for the rest of the region, he is determined to continue with his transactional leeway, economic pressure tactics, and drastic disregard of human rights for short-term political gains, a pattern he cautiously adopted in his first term. 

His second term policy could also embolden anti-democratic actors and threaten the region’s democratic institutions, civil liberties, citizen security, and human rights protections.

He has gone far as to threaten the sovereignty of his neighbors, Canada, Mexico, Panama as well as the Danish-ruled Greenland.

Trump is increasingly aligning with the region’s populist authoritarian leaders, such as Argentina’s Javier Milei, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele, and the Bolsonaro family in Brazil. 

He is developing working relationship with leftist leaders, such as Venezuela’s Juan Maduro and Colombia’s Gustavo Francisco Urrego, when they agree to take back some of their immigrants or function as transition posts to the deportees.

The Middle East

Trump’s electoral promise to bring peace to the Middle East has so far proved to be a fiasco. 

The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has collapsed, and Israel has unleashed its brutal airstrikes on Gaza again.

The Houthis resumed their attacks targeting US and allies’ ships and aircraft carriers, threatening navigation in this strategic crossing. 

Although he also hit the Houthis hard, matters, as a whole, are going out of control in the region. Most of the Arab states reject his “Rivera of the Middle East” proposal for Gaza, wherein he wants to purge entire population. 

The situation in Syria is fluid and vague, while Israel is expanding its presence there. 

The rhetoric of colonial nostalgia Trump has been singing is another scary issue. When he bragged about his desire to annex Canada, forcibly buy Greenland, militarily occupy the Panama Canal, and even “take over the Gaza Strip” and expel its beleaguered population.

Europe left in the lurch

Trump’s mercantile and military approach as a foreign policy tool poses a huge danger to the world as well as the US itself. 

His warning to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House, saying the latter “was gambling with a World War III,” should, rather, be redirected to the former. 

Few days after meeting with Trump at the White House, French President Emanuel Macron delivered a speech, urging Europe to wean itself off US protection.

Trump’s Vice President JD Vance launched a scathing attack on the European allies for shunning far-right political parties, suppressing the right wing and showing leniency towards immigration. 

But the measures taken by Trump to cut Europe off the US umbilical cord will hurt both sides. The US cannot retain its status as a superpower without alliances. Putting a price tag on everything and every favor the US offers will certainly scare away any potential partner. 

The damage being done by Trump’s unbridled forays and reckless rush towards dismantling the old-world order will be irreversible and painful. 

The deliberate unhinging of the world order will create new geopolitical system, ushering in birth of new powers who will show up as alternative to the American ally.

Post-WWII US-Europe ties

By the end of World War II, Europe was hankering after a lifejacket to buoy itself out of the misery inflicted by the war and ultimately rise from the ashes. 

The US as a benefactor extended its helping hand to Europe while asking the Europeans to kiss it first and pay the price. That price was endowed with complete loyalty and rotation in the US orbit, without argument or objection. 

This loyalty led to the signing of free trade treaties that served as lifeline to the Europeans, and aided expansion of US’ virtual empire and prosperity. 

It formed a sacred bond that further strengthened with the establishment of NATO. The organization unified Europeans protected the “old continent” against the Communist tide and helped to win the Cold War. And later, the relations across the Atlantic have increasingly entangled so that each has become too dependent on the other. 

Trump knows that the US needs allies and partners to advance its policies and interests all over the world. And that extending hands to these parties warrants influence and chance to accrue more gains. 

Post-Cold War US Dominance 

The world in the immediate post-cold war era, with unchallenged US hegemony and prowess of a victorious superpower, was not as complicated as the world today. 

The US was respected wherever it landed, was listened to whenever it spoke, and had an impact once it acted.

Neither the US was not great, nor the world was chaotic before Trump took over. 

Things might not have been perfect or ideal. But at least there was an order respected, and there were limits to predators and red lines to the powerful. 

In a recent analysis of the emerging new world order, Alex Younger, a former chief of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6, said “We are in a new era where, by and large, international relations are not going to be determined by rules and multilateral institutions.” 

He clarified, “They are going to be determined by strongmen and deals … That is the mindset of Trump, Putin, and certainly the Chinese leader Xi Jinping.”

US Selling Europe to buy Russia

The US’ abrupt shift from its alliance with Europe to friendship with Russia is one of the enigmatic paradigms. More on this might be known soon when the table sets for talks on Ukraine peace deal. 

Selling Europe to buy Russia is the most shocking change the world has ever seen since the fall of Berlin Wall in November 1989. 

The Russian president has started to gloat over the Europeans and mock their leaders as he did in Davos. He told French President Emanuel Macron that Russia can provide the security that Europe needs. Thus, the court is now open to all Russian games. 

Trump’s hostile attitude towards Ukraine has also encouraged Putin to raise the ceiling of his negotiation terms. Instead of accepting the US peace proposal, which Kyiv embraced immediately, the Russian president wants to perhaps pitch his own proposal on Ukraine.

However, the unpredictable nature of Trump makes it difficult to foresee where he will land. This has been demonstrated by his threats to impose sanctions on Russia. But at the same time, he decided to halt military support to Ukraine. The humiliated Europeans have embarked to look out for a homemade solution away from Washington. 

“Trump is indeed shattering the order that the world has been building since World War II, an order that has been taken for granted and that prevented a third World War, at least until now.”

Richard Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and director of policy planning under President George W. Bush, warned, “By alienating its allies, the US could end up with less influence, potentially with less order.” He added that some of these allies could begin to diversify their portfolios rather than depending on the United States, and some of them might even go nuclear and disregard Washington.” “We’re moving towards a much less America-centric world,” he predicted.

Tariffs Impact on China: Market Turmoil

Trump’s “attack and negotiate” strategy does not bear fruit in all cases. It might work with the poor and weak nations, but it also could backfire if slapped on the strong ones. 

The day he waged the war which he proclaimed “Liberation Day” started with imposition of a base 10% tariff on all trade partners and eventually escalated on the bigger partners. 

Immediately after the US tariffs were put into effect, the Chines yuan tumbled offshore at record lows, prompting the central bank to order major state-owned banks to reduce US dollar purchases. 

The European Union showed restraint and gave itself a chance to figure out the proper response but with a promise to retaliate. 

But China, which had prepared for such a moment long time ago, did not flinch. It immediately began the game of chicken with Washington and indicated that it will drag it to the end, triggering massive tremors all over the world markets. 

The US stock markets tumbled to historical lows, wiping out over $6 trillion off the market the first two days since the imposition of Trump’s tariffs.

The rate hiked on the same day the tariffs came into effect, April 9, when Trump added up to 125% tariffs against China. Beijing stubbornly retaliated with 84% tariff on US imports. 

Beijing also filed complaints with the World Trade Organization about what it called “reckless and dangerous trade escalation” from the US, which reflects how much panic the tariffs caused to China.

US Dependence on Chinese Imports

Just few hours after unleashing new tariffs, Trump ordered suspension of most of the new tariffs on tens of trading partners for 90 days to stay at the 10% base, excluding China. 

The statement sent the stock markets skyrocketing but it did not rule out the possibility of recession, weighing in the impact on the Chinese economy. When the Chinese economy reels under pressures, this also resonates throughout the world, including the US markets which consumes over $500 billion of Chinese imports. 

The showdown with the major economic powers will not only harm the other side but will also wreak havoc on all levels of society in the US. 

Consumer prices have already increased, inflation is up. An economic crisis is looming large and financial institutions, including JP Morgan, predicted that recession was likely. 

Trump is indeed shattering the order that the world has been building since World War II, an order that has been taken for granted and that prevented a third World War, at least until now. 

China and Russia Nexus

The most precious asset that makes America great, and which Trump does not seem to understand or appreciate, is its championing of human rights, defense of democracy and care about the world and the oppressed. Its military power and economic wealth might make it feared, but they never earn it respect.

But to abandon its push for upholding human rights and advocacy for democracy will mean the US would be useless to its erstwhile allies. The US aligning itself with dictators will also fire up the dictatorial regimes and spread chaos in many parts of the world. 

The US might not have been that angel spreading its wings of compassion over the world. But it has been a weight of balance against the China-Russia axis and a bridle to oppressions of despots. It has always been the hope of the hopeless and the savior of the helpless, even if that was not free of cost. 

Africa

USAID in Africa

And while China is adopting a zero-tariff policy with over 33 African countries, the US is slapping huge tariffs on its closest allies and wiping out all trade privileges granted to many African friends abiding by democratic rule. These policies stand on the opposite side of the Chinese diplomatic stratagem that propagates mutual interests and stability of partners.

Trump does not hide his contempt for the poor and he never talks about them. When he withdrew tens of billions of dollars from international aid organizations, Trump also abandoned Africa. Over a quarter of now defunct USAID’s budget was devoted to Africa.

He is scrapping programs that have been in place for many years, leaving behind a vacuum that China and Russia are racing to fill. And both China and Russia are scrambling to establish agencies like the USAID and have enhanced their activities in Africa after the US aid agencies receded. 

Russia & China’s Rapid Expansion in Africa

Beijing and Moscow have been chasing natural resources and the thriving consumer markets in Africa. They are also expanding their presence in various areas such as military, economic, and political. 

China is not only entrenching its physical presence in the black continent but also expanding its soft power and flexing its propaganda muscles without any resistance. 

China’s biggest media conglomerate, Xinhua, has thirty-seven bureaus in Africa, where its CGTN TV, with millions of followers, has outpaced CNN and any other western media. This comes at a time the US has defunded and dismantled its major global media outlets, and left the information space for China and Russia to revel in.

US assistance Vs Chinese Loans

Aid Data, a research lab and an international agency monitoring global foreign aid, estimated that the US spent $1.24 trillion in the form of grants, humanitarian aid, and assistance, including military, from 2000 to 2021. 

China, on in its part, spent $1.34 trillion in the same period on more than 18,000 projects –most being big development projects. 

But while the US aid is mostly non-refundable, the Chinese assistances are loans at the market rate.

However, other scholars embrace a more optimistic view. “America’s withdrawal of aid will give China bigger weight in a smaller space, but this doesn’t mean China can step in to fill the void,” says Yun Sen, a Chinese foreign policy expert writing for the Brookings Institution.

Fading US Generosity 

The United States is the world’s largest humanitarian donor, spending more than $70 billion annually. It accounted for 41% of global aid last year. 

Besides, the financial contributions of the US to the UN, for example, does not exceed $18 billion, which accounts for 2% of the military budget and less than half what Americans spend on ice cream annually. 

Its pullout from the humanitarian scene will cause a lot of problems for many destitutes and poor people, creating more crises.

The compassionate and generous face of the US along with the influence it once held over conflicts in Africa has faded away.  Trump has indeed traded the US leadership and responsibility with an egoistic and megalomaniac improvisation of a world stripped of mercy, cooperation, regular structure, or any human meaning. 

“Trump has indeed traded the US leadership and responsibility with an egoistic and megalomaniac improvisation of a world stripped of mercy, cooperation, regular structure, or any human meaning.”

Trade War brinkmanship and the anticlimax

The American hardworking middle class are at the receiving end of these destabilizing policies and price hikes. They started to rise against this trade war and millions took to the streets in the first week of April to protest Trump’s aggressive policies, chanting “hands-off” against Trump’s crackdown on the very sources of their living. 

The Americans are now extremely worried about their retirement savings and small businesses have almost lost confidence in the stability of the US economy and the sustainability of its purchasing power. 

The roller-coaster turbulence created by the fluctuating and unpredicted decisions by the US administration is sending electric shocks throughout the US and the world. 

Trump could have fixed what he called “world trade order imbalance” in a more discreet and incremental way without having to cause such a massive ruckus in the world economy. He could have addressed each trade agreement one at a time and he could have the best terms he sought without gouging the American pockets out and spreading waves of fear. 

His brinkmanship style of negotiation tactics — now exposed before negotiators — has started to lose its momentum and impact. It has been proved by strong retaliation he received from Canada, Mexico, and China when he imposed trade tariffs on them, and they answered in kind. This challenge and repeated stunts he employs will eventually paint the image of the US abroad as an unreliable and untrustworthy partner. Such a portrayal will end its dominance as a world leader. 

American Referendum on Trumpism

The American people who are going through a unique and bizarre period might not be as patient as they may look right now. The whole stage might flare up into a fearful scene with the doors of the American hard-won welfare being shut down one after the other. 

Additionally, the mid-term elections, due in November 2026, could turn the whole picture topsy turvy.

The elections cover the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, one third of the one hundred Senate seats, thirty-six governors, and other federal posts. 

They come in the middle of the President’s term and function as a referendum on his performance. Considering the ongoing devastation of all the social and economic structures, many of the surviving generations have lived in for long time, the castle of sand Trump has been scrambling to build might collapse overnight if the Democrats restore the legislative power. 

At that time, Trump will not only become a lame duck, but a fragile target to the retaliatory opponents who will vent out their wrath to abort his overambitious and impetuous transformations.

Conclusion

With his tariff-driven economic strategy proving to be counterproductive, his impulsive, whimsical, and uncalculated maneuvers are denting US prestige. His nonchalant and disrespectful manners, his lack of a global political vision, and his selfish interest-driven rhetoric, will not only undermine the whole world order, but will turn it into chaos.

By retreating to the cocoon of isolationism, Trump will leave not only Ukraine but the whole of Europe to be a free playground for Moscow. 

It will allow Taiwan to be an easy prey to China, South Korea to be prone for the crazy adventures of the “rocket man” in the neighboring North, the Middle East to be a neckless chicken for the Israeli hounds, and Africa to be a sino-dominated market. Thus, squandering hundreds of billions of dollars the US has been spending on and investing in these spheres for decades. 

In a nutshell, the dark vision summarized in Trump’s self-coined motto, America First, will speed up the disintegration of the already fragile world order while other global forces make their plays to lead. This vision ignites geopolitical competition, encourages populist nationalism, destabilizes development, disrupts innovation, and aggravates climate risks and humanitarian crises. 

“In a nutshell, the dark vision summarized in Trump’s self-coined motto, America First, will speed up the disintegration of the already fragile world order while other global forces make their plays to lead.”

And hope is hinging on the resilience of the American institutions and the agility of the US democracy which is undoubtedly able to abort all these schemes and undo their venoms.

But the “harbingers” of Trump’s promised new order has started to send wake up calls to Americans and the world, as demonstrated in the latest protests worldwide. 

Globalization and the massive American economic and military superiority intertwined with US domestic affairs have sustained the existing world order. Whatever befalls the US – be it prosperity or crisis — will echo immediately all over the globe.