Throughout multiple Democratic and Republican administrations, the United States sought to establish a global hegemony after World War II. In the West, Washington seemed to rule with relative ease through international mechanisms such as the UN, receiving strong support from European countries and facing very little global resistance.

However, after decades of control in the economic sphere through the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, and in the military sphere through NATO, the White House has reached the limit of its aspirations for global governance and now seeks to reshape US foreign policy to serve predatory US national interests.

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Spearheaded by countries such as China and Russia and by groups such as BRICS, the increasingly strong idea of a multipolar world weakens American hegemony and, moreover, drags its closest allies into a political crisis.

At the same time, long-standing partners of the White House, such as Western European countries, are no longer a priority for Washington. However, new allies, like Argentina, need to contend with the current US administration’s subjugation.

The Trump administration promoted a major shift in the White House’s foreign relations, which caused resentment among his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, illustrating a new configuration of international politics in which Europe has taken on a secondary role in Washington’s strategy.

Formerly, there was bipartisan consensus that NATO in Europe was very important to the US. For Trump, NATO is not. Trump did not formally withdraw the US from NATO, but he attributes very little importance to it. The Atlantic Alliance no longer holds the significance it once had, and this has led to major changes, as Europe wanted to be led by the US.

The end of the Biden administration in January 2025 marked the close of a new chapter for Europe. Now, Washington’s focus is on Beijing.

Trump’s idea is to reject multipolarity and lay the groundwork for a bipolar system with China. A bipolar system different from that of the Cold War, given the major shift in the global economic and political system, particularly after capitalism and liberalism prevailed over European communism.

Due to the victory over European communism, the US, as the leader of the liberal international order, is in a position of predatory hegemony that does not allow the growth of allies. This predatory hegemony means that the US has begun to prioritize its most immediate interests and to relegate the overall conduct of relations among these partner countries to a secondary position.

The Trump administration is trying to control Europe, which, in turn, angers the continent’s authorities, who have long enjoyed the benefits of the prevailing global status quo. Europeans, who have benefited so much from this US-led international order, are currently experiencing strain in the relationship as they are made to ensure their own security.

This liberal order is in decline, albeit slowly, particularly since the 2008 economic crisis. The decline accelerated, though, when Trump adopted, trademarked, and popularized the slogan Make America Great Again for his 2016 presidential campaign.

If, in Trump’s view, the US can be great again, it must cease pursuing hegemony. This pursuit of hegemony creates differences in institutional relations among allies and even between governments antagonistic to the American project.

The relationship that Trump establishes with China and Russia is based on mutual respect. However, with weaker countries, he uses brutal tactics without apology. The case of Venezuela is exemplary. All military resources, intelligence, and naval power were mobilized simultaneously, leaving the Venezuelans no way to resist.

While the US seeks to impose its political will on the world, some allies, such as Israel, manage to bend these American directives. Israel is not just any partner but a matter of internal US politics because of the American Jewish community’s capacity to finance costly presidential campaigns. The weight Jews carry in American society, whether social, political, or economic, greatly influences US domestic politics. No politician who wants to build a career in the US and has broader political ambitions opposes Israel.

The decline of the US began in the 2000s with the Iraq War under the George W. Bush administration and continued through the 2008 financial crisis. Following these events, multipolar groups outside traditional Western governance, such as BRICS, emerged, reshaping the international order.

The US is reluctant to acknowledge a crisis of its hegemony, preventing any adaptation to the contemporary world. The American decline is evident in the dollar, technological leadership, and even in the social values once considered sacred. This global reality is imposing itself on the US, the Trump administration, and, of course, the US political and intellectual elites. The minimum consensus, it seems, is that Trump is accelerating Washington’s loss of prestige.

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Ahmed Adel is a Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.

Featured image: President Donald J. Trump tours the Hall of Prayer of Good Harvest with President Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China, Thursday, May 14, 2026, at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

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