Listen to the ideologues of the Trump administration rant about America’s unfair lot in the world, and you might picture a nation besieged on all sides. An economy so poorly run it’s a laughingstock, saved only by Donald Trump’s genius. Endless wars without purpose, drifting aimlessly. A civilizational mission threatened by a mongrel horde at the borders. It’s a grim portrait, but the canvas belongs to Russia.
Russia has shrunk from half a bipolar world to an Argentine-sized economy bristling with nukes. The post-World War II order—the UN, World Bank, IMF—built by America to contain socialist ideas, neutered the USSR. So how did communist China slip through? Not because containment weakened. China failed as a communist construct, morphing from socialist democracy into state capitalist autocracy. Deng Xiaoping’s late-1970s revolution birthed a chimera that slithered into the WTO in 2001.
If America isn’t weaker than in 1945, what is it? It’s still the world’s dominant economic power, though its trade share has shrunk. The greenback’s role in central bank reserves has diminished, yet it still grants what Valéry Giscard d’Estaing called an “exorbitant privilege.” The dollar’s strength lets the U.S. sell debt at high prices and borrow at envy-inducing low costs.
America may not be weak, but it’s tired. So are the global institutions it built. The case for renewing international governance has been made repeatedly. The world has changed—not because of diversity or mingling, but due to economic interdependence, falling fertility in the West, and technology democratizing employment. These pressures squeeze economies everywhere.
In Europe, the post-WWII order’s emphasis on freedoms has spawned multicultural societies where “native” populations feel besieged by immigrants with alien values. Populist nationalist parties threaten established ones. In the U.S., these fractures play out within the two dominant parties, especially the GOP.
Yet the world cooperates more as America retrenches. It just needs to put money where its mouth is. The U.S. leads in cutting-edge tech, struggling to restrict global access. Its pivot creates vacuums. The pain from ruptured supply chains will crystallize slowly. But technology rewards those who deploy it best. A world less reliant on the U.S. stands a better chance of reaping rewards from its advances.
And the U.S.? The Yoruba say when a battling ram steps back, it’s to reinforce. The Trump administration has damaged global and domestic institutions alike. America is wearier thanks to his machinations. Its retreat will be harder—but both possible and necessary.
Uddin Ifeanyi, a journalist manqué and retired civil servant, can be reached @IfeanyiUddin.
