Project Syndicate
Dec 28, 2025
Project Syndicate regularly features short responses from experts on topics of global concern, and this time, we examine the implications of U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. Although the United States’ role as the custodian of the international rules-based order was never as straightforward as its proponents believe, it at least represented an ideal against which to set expectations and measure successes and failures in global governance. But since Trump’s return, that ideal — like so many others — has been cast aside, lending new urgency to long-simmering questions.
*The United States may have done more than any other country to create the conditions for robust economic growth and relative peace after World War II, but nothing lasts fo…
Project Syndicate
Dec 28, 2025
Project Syndicate regularly features short responses from experts on topics of global concern, and this time, we examine the implications of U.S. President Donald Trump’s foreign policy. Although the United States’ role as the custodian of the international rules-based order was never as straightforward as its proponents believe, it at least represented an ideal against which to set expectations and measure successes and failures in global governance. But since Trump’s return, that ideal — like so many others — has been cast aside, lending new urgency to long-simmering questions.
The United States may have done more than any other country to create the conditions for robust economic growth and relative peace after World War II, but nothing lasts forever. With the rise of new powers and the growing chorus of those demanding reforms to existing institutions, American unipolarity was always going to be challenged. But what alternatives to U.S. economic and security leadership are there? Are there any spheres where the United States remains indispensable?
To get a sense of what may lie ahead, we asked contributors whether they agree with the following statement: