A New World Order —Trump’s America First foreign policy

A New World Order —Trump’s America First foreign policy

Ambassador Curtis A. Ward

(05 April 2025) — President Donald Trump is leaving no doubt about his intention to use American military and economic superiority to not only change or dismantle world order but to dominate it. He hopes to replace world order by which multilateral and bilateral relations have been governed since World War II with an America First policy across all areas of human interaction. The intent is to destroy and remake international and regional organizations and institutions to carry out U.S. policies globally. He believes he has the power and the resources to enforce his will on the international community, but he may be mistaken. He wants to create a new world order that only serves American interests. That is fundamentally impossible, and it is wrong.

The Paris Accord

Trump began his presidency by withdrawing America from the Paris Accord, the most comprehensive global arrangement to deal with global warming and the resulting devastating impact of climate change. Despite the devastating effects of climate change which are manifested across the U.S. in widespread wildfires, severe storms, deadly tornadoes, and expansive droughts, America went rogue.

To compound the threat and effects of climate change on the most vulnerable countries whose existence are threatened, Trump has imposed tariffs on these countries which will make it more difficult for them to enhance their climate change resilience. Trump has a disdain for alternative energy solutions and ardently promotes fossil fuel. “Drill, baby drill.” Buying America’s natural gas is Trump’s alternative to the use of oil.

The World Health Organization

With a clear disregard for international coordination and response to global pandemics, Trump withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO). He has denied the WHO necessary funding and other resources to fight the spread of diseases, immunize children from life-threatening diseases, and build health capacities in developing countries. He has ended cooperation between the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the world’s premier disease prevention research body, and the WHO. He is decimating CDC and by extension global response to diseases. What Trump is doing to international health capacity and response to global pandemics, he is also doing domestically, destroying America’s leadership in health research and healthcare delivery to Americans. He has put many lives at risk. The world needs the CDC and the WHO.

The World Trade Organization

Trump’s destructive juggernaut continues unchecked. His tariffs policy is rendering the World Trade Organization (WTO) and international and regional trade agreements and arrangements inoperable and obsolete. Trump’s use of reciprocal tariffs which he claims are intended to level the playing field is instead destroying it. Few if any U.S. major trading partners will surrender to Trump’s America First tariff policy. They will fight back, and the ensuing trade war will spiral out of control. Consumers in America and around the world will bear the brunt of Trump’s chaotic and foolhardy trade policy.

President Trump Is vehemently opposed to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and has imposed sanctions against the ICC and its prosecutor. Despotic leaders of other countries who do not respect the rule of law at home or internationally are encouraged by Trump’s actions to withdraw from the ICC’s jurisdiction. The latest being Hungary. Others of like mind will follow.

Options for Global South

Developing countries, particularly of the Global South, will suffer disproportionately from Trump’s America First policies across all sectors. That is, unless they choose to embrace South-South cooperation as imperative. The choice has been around for a long time. Germany’s Willie Brandt and Jamaica’s Michael Manley, during the seventies and eighties, advocated South-South cooperation. Now, perhaps, more of the major players in the Global South will see the benefit of pursuing this course. Jamaica and other Caribbean countries must fully embrace this precept and help to lead this process. It’s a win-win proposition for the countries of the Global South to abandon dependency on northern neo-colonizers and to search for solutions from within their midst. In this globalized world, they have access to all the tools they need.

Trump’s new quasi-isolationist policy is unworkable. To sustain America’s economic power, America needs foreign markets and countries around the world need access to America’s markets. This is a globalized world, created and promoted by the U.S. – a world that is interconnected in every imaginable way.

America’s military superiority and dominance will become unsustainable. Economic isolationism will drain resources and put pressure on military spending, thus endangering U.S. national security. The pace at which China continues to spend on military expansion poses an even greater threat to U.S. national security interests. As China’s economic and geopolitical footprints increase around the world, America’s are likely to shrink. Merely, pressuring and even using coercive measures against countries to accept Trump’s America First foreign and economic policy will eventually lose its impact. Some countries will search for alternatives and China will take advantage to fill the void.

No country currently has a better opportunity or possesses the resources to lead the world as does America. And, although America has made mistakes in the past, there were efforts to amend. World leadership is completely different from imperialism and world dominance. World leadership requires cooperation, collaboration, and partnerships to advance humanity’s security and progress. It is not for any country to destroy world order designed for that purpose. Trump’s America First agenda will not realign world order but will destroy it.

Trump’s implementation of his domestic and international policies has been chaotic and shambolic. He has chosen a cabinet and surrounded himself with advisers who cheer him on. His presidency is part theatre that is reflective of his past. The staging of his global reciprocal tariffs on the lawn of the White House was designed for drama. It was shocking, and the scope unprecedented in modern economic and trade relations. Trump revels in this. He sees power in his actions. He has the attention of the entire international community. Even isolated, distant and uninhabited islands are made subject to Trump’s tariffs. Unrealistic, but reveals the shambolic nature of Trump’s America First policies.

© Curtis A. Ward/The Ward Post 

[A version of this article was published in The Jamaica Gleaner, April 6. 2025]