4/22/2025–|Last update: 4/22/202503:04 PM (Mecca time)
Just 100 days after the start of the second term of US President Donald Trump, the White House movements show that the United States is moving towards closure and separation from the international system at the speed of expectations, according to an opinion article published in Bloomberg Agency by Andreas Clot.
The writer says that many were hoping that Trump’s speech towards the world would be just “electoral exaggerations”, or “linguistic provocations”, but the current reality reveals a fundamental shift in American foreign policy, from its traditional role as an international leader to a volatile, isolated, and sometimes hostile actor.
A sharp reduction in the diplomatic presence
Among the most prominent indicators of this transformation, according to Bloomberg, the US administration’s plans to reduce the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in half during the next fiscal year.
According to an internal memorandum, this will lead to the closure or reduction of the size of 10 embassies and 17 consulates, including 6 embassies in Africa, in conjunction with the escalation of Russian and Chinese influence in the brown continent.
In the same context, Voice of America, Free Europe Radio and Free Asian radio were dismantled, which led to the absence of the American voice from the international media scene, especially in conflict areas and turmoil.
The American Agency for International Development also stopped providing aid in the aftermath of earthquakes and disasters, including in Myanmar, while funding for global health, humanitarian aid and international institutions, led by the United Nations and NATO.
Withdrawal from international agreements and tasks
Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization, which removed Washington from the efforts to negotiate a new international agreement to confront epidemics, a move that has sparked major concerns in global health.
The United States’ funding for the United Nations peacekeeping tasks has also been canceled, which weakens US participation in stability in conflict areas, according to Klot.
As for climate change, the report described the Trump administration’s position as a complete disregard for international responsibility, noting that the file is no longer on the American policy table.
Skepticize the Alliances after World War II
The article indicates that Trump has transformed NATO from a security system into a similar “paid protection system”, after linking the American defense obligations to the extent of the spending of member states on their armies, and offering volatile conditions (2% or 5% of GDP).
The most dangerous, according to Bloomberg, Trump is considering abandoning an American appointment as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, SACEUR, the position has been held by American generals since the era of Dwight Eisenhower.
The abandonment of this position in favor of a European or Canadian, will raise legal questions about the leadership of leadership, and will be considered a great symbolic distance from NATO, and it may be explained in Moscow as a decline in the credibility of the American deterrence.
A gradual collapse of the international system
The writer believes that all these moves indicate that Trump does not realize or does not estimate the principles that have formed American foreign policy since World War II, which were based on the establishment of international institutions such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, with the aim of preserving peace and promoting prosperity.
The writer adds, warning that what is known as “American peace”, which provided the opportunity for countries to grow under the leadership of a tolerant superpower, has become from the past: “Trump does not see no use in the international system, nor himself as part of it”, are we on the threshold of global chaos?
At the conclusion of the report, the writer warns that Washington turns into a neglected or even hostile international actor, who threatens a stage of dangerous geopolitical decline. If these policies continue, we may see the United States withdraw from or threaten international peace, and do not maintain it.
“Goodbye to the American century … and welcome to the age of chaos,” Klot writes, in a dark summary of the reality of the new American policy under Trump’s leadership.
