The executive order signed by US President Donald Trump, withdrawing America from more than five dozen international organisations, marks a decisive turn towards an ostrich-like foreign policy—burying its head in unilateral bravado while the world reshapes itself without Washington. In one sweeping move, the United States has squandered the commanding position it painstakingly built over decades in institutions meant to foster cooperation on security, law, trade, economics and human rights.
Abdication masquerading as strength
This is not retrenchment born of strategic prudence; it is abdication masquerading as strength. By cutting ties with forums across the United Nations system and beyond, the Trump administration has reduced the United States to an island unto itself, voluntarily forfeiting the role of global leader. The claim by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that these bodies are wasteful, redundant or “dominated by progressive ideology” is less an argument than an excuse. International influence is not measured by immediate transactional gains but by sustained presence, persuasion and the ability to shape norms.
A dangerous misreading of power
Trump’s worldview appears shaped by a dangerous misreading of power. His belief that America can “get away with anything” so long as it possesses overwhelming arms and armaments betrays a megalomaniac impulse. The ease with which Washington has sought to browbeat nations—illustrated by its swaggering posture towards Venezuela and its leader Nicolas Maduro—has bred an illusion that coercion can substitute leadership. It cannot. A bully may be feared, but it is never respected.
Erosion of moral capital
At its peak, the world looked up to Washington not merely because of its military might, but because the US symbolised diversity, democracy and development. That moral capital, accumulated through institutions and alliances, is now being frittered away. Leadership is easy to relinquish; it is infinitely harder to regain. Americans would do well to reflect on that reality before celebrating isolation as sovereignty.
Others will fill the vacuum
The vacuum left by the US withdrawal will not remain empty. China and Russia, already active members of many of the very bodies Washington has abandoned, will move swiftly to expand their influence. Countries like Brazil and India, too, possess the wherewithal to shape a multipolar order less dependent on American leadership.
Trust and the dollar at risk
Even the dominance of the US dollar—currently America’s greatest source of international clout—cannot be taken for granted. Financial power rests on trust, and trust erodes when a nation turns its back on the global system it once championed. If the US is no longer interested in the affairs of the United Nations, calls to shift its headquarters from New York may no longer sound fanciful.
A retreat, not a recalibration
What Trump has initiated is not a recalibration but a retreat. History offers a blunt verdict: nations that confuse intimidation with influence end up isolated, watching from the sidelines as others write the rules.
