For decades, the United States positioned itself as the guarantor of the liberal international order, acting simultaneously as rule-maker, security provider, and global policeman. Yet the second Trump presidency has revived debates over whether Washington is shifting toward a more transactional, unilateral, and selectively isolationist foreign policy. From skepticism toward alliances such as NATO, QUAD, and AUKUS to renewed tensions over global governance frameworks, America’s evolving posture raises a central paradox: Is the U.S. retreating from the world, or redefining its dominance through a more aggressive and interest-driven form of interventionism? The mixed trajectory of U.S.-China relations, shaped simultaneously by engagement and competition, constitutes another dimension of these debates from the perspective of great-power rivalry.
This session will examine how the second Trump era is reshaping the logic and legitimacy of American power in the international system. While anti-war rhetoric remains central to Trump’s discourse, recent interventions and coercive policies reveal a foreign policy still heavily reliant on pressure, deterrence, and geopolitical bargaining. The discussion will explore whether the United States is abandoning multilateral leadership or transforming it into a less institutional, more personalized, and transactional order in an era increasingly characterized by great power competition.
Discussion Themes:
- Is the second Trump era signaling the end of America’s role as the guarantor of the liberal international order, or simply a transformation in how U.S. power is exercised?
- How does the Iran war challenge the credibility of Trump’s anti-war and “America First” rhetoric?
- In the context of an evolving global power competition, what does China’s emergence as a parallel system-shaping actor to the United States reveal about the fragmentation of the international order and the rise of competitive bloc formation?
- What do cases like Iran and Venezuela reveal about the relationship between American geopolitical ambitions, energy interests, and the future of multilateralism?