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31/03/2025 16:33
President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, and as we predicted in previous issues of Eurasia magazine, he has upended the existing international order, rendering the previous Western ideological approach to politics obsolete.
Trump’s Vice President, J.D. Vance, caused a major stir in Western media with his speech at the Munich Security Conference. However, the shock was not necessarily due to the content of his remarks—similar ideas have been expressed by Asian leaders for nearly a decade. In fact, Hungary’s Prime Minister has delivered speeches with similar messages on multiple occasions across various platforms. The real shock was that it was the second-highest-ranking official of the United States who stated these things in front of Western leaders—the same United States that originally spread woke ideology and other ideological politics to Europe.
Trump has disrupted both American domestic politics and international affairs, leaving the EU and its member state leaders struggling to react. Just as they are falling behind in global economic competition, they now find themselves two steps behind in politics as well, still operating under the framework of the previous American ideological approach.
While the EU is still waking up, the Trump administration has already completed preparations for U.S.-Russia presidential negotiations in Saudi Arabia. Trump himself has made bold statements about resolving global issues, calling Zelensky a dictator and blaming Ukraine for the war. The world has turned 180 degrees.
Beyond the EU, significant changes are happening in Central America as well. After Trump declared that the Panama Canal was effectively under Chinese control and suggested that the U.S. should take it back, Panama withdrew from China’s Belt and Road Initiative just two weeks later.
Meanwhile, major shifts are occurring in East Asia. The U.S. has pulled some of its troops out of Japan, and in Taiwan, it has effectively "taken back" semiconductor manufacturing.
Are we witnessing a new geopolitical division? "America for Americans"—a longstanding doctrine—but will East Asia belong to China, and the post-Soviet space to Russia? If the new U.S. president continues at this pace, we will soon find out what kind of grand bargain is being struck between the major powers.
One thing is certain: international politics has undergone a 180-degree turn in just one month. The new world order—where Trump has taken on a major role in repositioning the U.S.—is beginning to take shape.