In most of his speeches and social media posts, Donald Trump makes two points, directly or indirectly. First, he is the greatest President of the United States, almost a god's gift to humanity. Second, that he doesn't receive enough recognition for what he has achieved in such a short period. No Nobel Prize, even after resolving at least eight global conflicts. No praise for strengthening the US economy through his tariffs. Facts don't matter much to him; what he feels is more important.
So, Trump should no longer be committed to peace, and the US should get Greenland at any cost because Norway didn't give him the Nobel Prize. India should have extra tariffs for its exports to the US because New Delhi didn't acknowledge Trump's role in ending last May's four-day military conflict with Pakistan and failed to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the last 12 months, Trump has abandoned the rules-based global order that the US helped create after the Second World War and embraced a foreign policy based on his whims and preferences, weaponised tariffs and made the US unreliable to its partners. "I don't need international law," Trump told The New York Times earlier this month. When asked if there were limits on his global power, he said: "My own morality. My own mind,"
The Donroe Doctrine
The raid on Venezuela and abduction of its leader, Nicolas Maduro, at the beginning of this month was done without any consultation with the US allies or even the Congress. He called it in line with what he called the Donroe Doctrine, his version of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine, to secure the Western Hemisphere from Russian and Chinese influence.
Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, minced no words to defend the move. "We are back to a world," Miller declared, "that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power." What Miller meant was that the US under Trump had reverted to the pre-War era, when big powers could seize territory or foreign property by force.
In his much-applauded speech at Davos, Canada's Prime Minister, Mark Carney, declared that a rules-based global order was over and that "we are living in the midst of a rupture, not a transition". Quoting ancient Greek historian Thucydides, Carney said the world was entering a period in which "the strong can do what they can and the weak must suffer what they must". He warned, " Middle powers must act together because if we're not at the table, we're on the menu."
A Slow Death
Trump began to weaken the rules-based multilateral order during his first term. He withdrew from UN bodies, including the Human Rights Council, UNESCO, UNRWA, and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Trump also stopped funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) during Covid-19 and weakened the security guarantees associated with NATO and undercut the WTO.
His second term has been the most devastating for multilateral institutions, particularly the United Nations. In his speech to the UN in September, Trump attacked what he called the anti-woke notions in the UN system for the "globalist scam" of climate change and accompanying green policies. Under Trump, the US is not paying dues of even 22% after an 84% reduction in US foreign aid last May.
Earlier this month, Trump withdrew the US from 66 international bodies, nearly half of which are UN organisations. Last week, the US pulled out of the WHO. The withdrawal of the US, which has been the organisation's largest funder, could cripple the body and its numerous global health projects.
Make Trump Great Again
Trump's declared aim for his policies is "America First", but increasingly, his critics argue, he is harming the US at home and abroad with his actions. The international institutions he has targeted and weakened are the ones that have helped keep America at the top of the global economic and strategic chain for the past eight decades.
The United States used multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank to encourage, or even compel, other countries to adopt pro-Western policies. These institutions also helped the US dollar to dominate the global financial system. Its leadership of NATO made the US the undisputed military power and leader of the "free world".
Trump's foreign policy is not conducted by members of the US State Department and career diplomats, but by himself personally - aided by his real estate friend, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Marco Rubio and JD Vance do appear alongside Trump in public but they don't influence foreign policy much. His Defence Secretary is Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host with zero experience in strategic affairs. But they ensure that Trump's personal interests and whims are taken care of.
Trump's family has reportedly become richer by at least $4 billion since his election. Many countries seek favour with Trump by offering him expensive gifts and business deals for his family. After taking control of Venezuela, Trump declared that up to 50 million barrels would be sold and that "that money will be controlled by me". Chris Murphy, a prominent Senator from the Democrats, alleged that "Trump took Venezuela's oil at gunpoint and gave it to one of his biggest campaign donors".
We Do Have An Alternative
Last week in Davos, Trump presented his vision for a new global body, launching his "Board of Peace". He called it an "international peace-building body" to replace "failed" institutions. This was the latest proof of his drive to dismantle the current international architecture and replace it with new institutions he can control. No wonder all other big powers stayed away.
When members of the UN Security Council voted in November in favour of the Board, they believed they were endorsing the Trump-brokered ceasefire in Gaza, with the aim of turning it into a real peace plan. The Board's charter doesn't even mention Gaza. It's obvious that the UN members were misled into backing his personal project, designed to supplant the UN itself.
Showing up for the Boards' signing ceremony in Davos were mostly Arab Sheikhs and autocrats or Trump loyalists, many with no connection to the Middle East. Pakistan represented the whole of South and East Asia and Viktor Orban of Hungary represented the entire Europe. The project has been dismissed by many as a Trump-Mar-a-Lago-style club, in which decision-making power resides with Trump himself, even after he leaves office.
UN In Danger
At the Board's inauguration, Trump said it might work alongside the UN, which "has great potential but struggles to realise it". A day earlier, though, when asked by Fox TV whether his Board would replace the UN, the President said, "Well, it might. The UN just hasn't been very helpful."
The fact remains that even though Trump has extracted the US from dozens of UN entities, he won't let the world body go at least for now because it has allowed the United States - a permanent member of the Security Council - to use and abuse it repeatedly over the last eight decades. No US government would like to lose that power.
Clearly, the UN has not always been fair and has not been very successful in preventing or resolving disputes. But that doesn't mean it should be sidelined or supplanted, as Trump appears to be doing. The UN needs reforms to make it more effective and better represent the diverse regions and their populations, as India has long demanded. The world does need multilateral organisations.
Trump & Co.
Trump may have damaged the post-war rules-based order beyond repair, but he is not the only one threatening the international community. With his neo-imperial instincts, Trump does want to expand America's territory, which explains his attempt to own Greenland, make Canada America's 51st state and retake the Panama Canal. As he has shown in the past 12 months, he also wants to extract money from wherever he can, following the approach of rulers several centuries ago.
But Trump knows his limits and is ready to share spheres of influence with two other big powers, China and Russia. That has made America's allies in Asia and Europe nervous. As recent events have shown, NATO is not safe with him, and Europeans and Asians are now exploring their options.
The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, and Russia's President Vladimir Putin are not very different from Trump and share his imperial instincts and authoritarian style. Putin is committed to acquiring Ukraine despite losing hundreds of thousands of his country's soldiers and resources. Like Trump, he doesn't believe in democracy and both men are friends. Europeans are more insecure now than they have been since the Second World War.
Xi, too, is now the most powerful leader of his country since Mao. All the restraints introduced after Mao's death, such as fixed-term limits for leaders and decentralised power, have been removed. He has also used critical resources as a weapon, like Trump has used tariffs against other nations - despite his repeated comments in favour of a rules-based order. This is bad news for all Asian countries with which Beijing has a border dispute. So India has to remain vigilant, despite recent improvements in relations.
One can agree with Carney that the old order is not coming back and we shouldn't mourn it. There is, of course, a need for democracies like India, Brazil, Europe and Canada to form new alliances; otherwise, we will have to live in a world dominated by strongmen and transactional leaders like Trump and Xi. Even after Trump is out of power, his legacy is unlikely to fade anytime soon.
Tuesday's announcement of the "mother of all deals" by India and the European Union is a welcome first step towards finding an alternative to the ruptured world order. Next month, Carney plans to visit New Delhi to further repair Canada's relations with India and seek a stronger alliance. That will be welcomed beyond the two countries' borders.
(Naresh Kaushik is a former editor at the Associated Press and BBC News and is based in London)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
