-Analysis-
PARIS – First, a fact: The chaos we see today didn’t start with Donald Trump. It was already in motion long before he was elected. Still there’s no denying his central role in accelerating that chaos — for his goal is to dismantle the existing world order.
To understand what the Trump administration is doing, just listen to what it says. During his Senate confirmation hearing on January 15, then nominee to be Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, stated, “The post-War global order is not just obsolete, it is now a weapon being used against us. The United States is once again called to lead in creating a free world out of chaos.”
In other words, the existing system isn’t simply broken — it’s an obstacle to be torn down.
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This sentence holds the key to the current chaos: the world order established in 1945, at the end of World War II, was largely shaped by the United States. Critics — especially from countries outside the West — have long accused it of being too American. And yet, in a striking twist, the very nation that once championed this threatened global order is now joining the ranks of those eager to dismantle it.
Trump’s vision of the world
This is indeed a surprising turn of events, where Trump sees the very world order that the U.S. helped create — built on alliances, international institutions, and the rule of law — as benefiting other nations more than America itself. He points the finger at the Europeans, accuses international organizations of tilting the scales against the U.S., and even takes aim at the Canadians — who, for their part, never asked for such scrutiny.
The American president isn’t an isolationist — far from it. He wants the U.S. to stay engaged in global affairs, but only on its own terms. In that sense, his approach is more similar to that of Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Xi Jinping’s China than to traditional U.S. leadership. Like them, he rejects the old world order, favoring a system where the strong dominate the weak, and where power is defined by spheres of influence.
Under the relentless blows of all three, the old world order is starting to crack.
Donald Trump adds a distinctly American touch to this approach: He doesn’t just want to challenge the existing order — he sees himself as its new enforcer, the self-proclaimed “sheriff” of the global village.
Europe’s role
And what about Europe in this global upheaval? It has become something of a lone outpost, clinging to the old order with its alliances and institutions. Now, it finds itself jolted awake by the sudden brutality surrounding it.
The ever democratic old continent, however, has a card to play in this grand upheaval: the chance to reinvent a new world order — one that isn’t Trump’s, nor Xi’s or Putin’s; but a true multipolar world, grounded in rules and making room for those who were excluded in the old one.
For Europe, this means coming to terms with the loss of American protection and forging new relationships with parts of the world that a triumphant West had sidelined. It may be the only way to ensure that the new world order emerges with as little suffering as possible — and isn’t imposed on the rest of us by giants driven by the worst kind of visceral selfishness.
