Trump’s bullying and threats against US allies are part of a crude effort to restore US power, and a display of naked imperialism, writes James Supple
In a desperate effort to maintain US power, Donald Trump is shaking up the system of alliances that has allowed it to dominate the world since the end of the Second World War.
He is lashing out at allies in an effort to grab advantage for the US, using tariffs to try to bludgeon action from Canada and Mexico over immigration and drug imports, and to try to restore the declining economic power of the US through rebuilding its manufacturing base.
After the US has poured hundreds of billions into Ukraine to fight a proxy war with Russia, Trump now wants to come to terms with Putin and carve up the country, declaring that the US will “get that money back” by taking control of Ukraine’s mineral wealth.
But despite his bluster and bullying there is a logic to Trump’s actions.
His “America First” approach is a response to US decline. He has long been obsessed with the idea that other countries are “taking advantage of” the US over its alliances and on trade.
The so called “rules based international order” was always a cover for imposing US power.
The US has threatened punishment against other states that break the rules but has continually flouted them itself, such as when it invaded Iraq in 2003 or with former US President Joe Biden rushing to arm Israel even as it carries out war crimes in Gaza.
But according to Trump, as his Secretary of State Marco Rubio has put it, “The postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us”, as other countries pursue their own interests while the US sacrifices to preserve the “global order”.
For decades the NATO alliance has allowed the US to dominate Europe through providing a security guarantee to defend European countries, initially against Russia during the Cold War.
Now Trump has threatened to abandon US allies in Europe who fail to increase defence spending, complaining, “Europe is in for a tiny fraction of the money that we’re in [for]”.
In response European states are rearming, pouring billions more into military spending.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced an extra $26 billion per year while the European Union plans an immediate $250 billion spending plan.
Russia and Ukraine
Trump’s desire to impose a peace settlement on Ukraine so it can stop funding military aid comes in the same context.
Since 2021 the US has provided $200 billion in weapons and aid to Ukraine, making it by far the largest single recipient of US foreign aid.
The US has used Ukraine as a proxy war in an effort to weaken Russian power and send a message to China about the costs of defying the US.
US Senator Richard Blumenthal argued in 2023 that, “For less than 3 per cent of our nation’s military budget, we’ve enabled Ukraine to degrade Russia’s military strength by half … All without a single American service woman or man injured or lost.”
But after three years of war Russia has again gained the upper hand, slowly seizing more Ukrainian territory as Ukraine’s army falters. Trump thinks the war has been a waste of money and wants out.
Trump’s humiliation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a brutal confirmation that this is a proxy war where the US is calling the shots. Trump has threatened to negotiate directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin to impose a settlement if Ukraine refuses to toe the line.
Trump’s moves are not a result of any supposed love for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
They are consistent with his view that US support for alliances and the international order are seeing it ripped off.
Trump also views China as the US’s key challenger, and wants to focus all its resources to meeting the threat. Russia and China have forged a close partnership as part of an effort to weaken US power.
Trump seems to think he can strike a deal with Putin to pull Russia away from China.
There is talk of easing sanctions on Russia, joint economic projects in rare earth mining and the Arctic, and Russia rejoining the G7.
Marco Rubio said this explicitly in a recent interview, arguing, “The big story of the 21st century is going to be US-Chinese relations”.
“But I think having a situation where the Russians are permanently a junior partner to China, having to do whatever China says to do because they are dependent on them, I don’t think that’s a good outcome for Russia and it’s not a good outcome for America or for Europe or the world.”
Trump has presented himself as working for “peace” through bringing an end to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. But he is no isolationist trying to stay out of conflicts abroad.
Instead, just like previous US Presidents, he is determined to boost US power. Trump has even promoted the idea of territorial expansion through seizing control of Greenland, the Panama Canal, Gaza and even Canada.
This is not just a passing whim. Trump has repeatedly insisted he wants Greenland, currently part of Denmark, raising it directly in a phone call with the Danish Prime Minister and telling the head of NATO, Mark Rutte, “we need that for national security” and insisting “I think it’ll happen”.
Trump sees his America First approach as a more ruthless and open pursuit of US interests.
The US has always been a brutal imperialist power out for its own advantage. But previous US Presidents have sought to disguise these aims through talk of spreading freedom, democracy and liberal values. With Trump, the mask is off.
US imperialism
Imperialism is a product of the competition that is built into capitalism.
As companies outgrow national boundaries they take part in competition for profit on an international scale, struggling against companies based in other nations. Rival firms need the backing of their own state to strike trade deals and secure markets and raw materials.
This means that economic competition spills over into competition between states looking to advance the interests and profits of their rival companies and national economies.
This can take the form of economic coercion as well as open war.
Imperialism is not simply an issue of the most powerful nations such as the US dominating others, but a system of competition between a range of larger and smaller powers.
States like Turkey and Iran are able to seek influence and greater power in their local region. Russia is a much weaker power today than during the days of the Cold War, but still wants to recover the territory and wealth it had when it controlled Eastern Europe.
Trump’s pledge to “make America great again” and bring back the American dream both point to the fear that the US is fading as an economic and imperialist power.
This has been a concern of the US ruling class for decades.
After the Second World War the US was at the peak of its power, with dynamic industries able to outcompete its rivals.
It designed a world order based on free trade that would allow US companies to dominate the world economically through access to markets.
But the US has been losing ground economically to its rivals since the 1960s.
It has continued to use international institutions like the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation, alongside its alliances with European states and others, to promote free trade and economic globalisation. But instead of ensuring US dominance, this has allowed the rise of competitors like China.
China is now the world’s largest manufacturer and exporter, following decades of rapid economic growth. It is also challenging US’s dominance of the tech industry from AI to semiconductors and communications. Its economic strength and population means it also has the potential to develop military power eventually surpassing the US.
The US remains the dominant global military power.
But recent decades have also shown the limits of its ability to impose its will by force.
The US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were conceived as a way to control Middle Eastern oil and reassert US power for decades to come.
Instead the US’s failure in Iraq strengthened Iran, its major opponent in the region. The US eventually had to cut and run from Afghanistan, pulling out its troops and allowing the Taliban to take over again in 2021. These wars came at a cost of $4 to $6 trillion.
A more unstable world
Trump’s America First approach is unlikely to work as a solution to the decline of US power.
Many of his goals, like the takeover of Greenland and Canada, seem far fetched.
But it threatens to produce an even more chaotic and dangerous world. Already a massive increase in arms spending is under way, as US allies fear they can no longer rely on Trump to protect their interests.
If the US retreats from using its power to impose order around the globe it will open up the space for rival states to assert themselves.
We have already seen this in Syria, where it was Russia, Iran, Turkey and other states that competed for influence during the civil war after 2011.
The bloody war in Ukraine and Israel’s genocide in Gaza are two further examples of the horror resulting from a more unstable world.
The US obsession with China is a recipe for further instability, with the danger of a catastrophic war between two major nuclear-armed powers. It means more turmoil in our local region, with Australian governments feeding the drive to war through their own military build-up alongside a growing US military presence at bases in Australia.
Trump’s new world order shows a declining superpower flailing around in the hope of restoring its former glories.
In the 20th century, capitalism produced the most horrifying and bloody wars in human history, with two world wars followed by conflicts in Korea and Vietnam that also claimed millions of lives. But it also produced mass anti-war movements that have helped stop wars.
Imperialism and war remain a central feature of today’s world. We need to build a movement capable of stopping the drive to war, and ensuring that our rulers can never again sacrifice masses of working class people to the slaughter.
This ultimately requires fighting to end capitalism—and for a world run in the interests of people not profit.
