The rule-based international order is one of the most crucial elements in international relations. Most of the politically mature countries understand this; Europe understands and so are China and India. However, the oldest democracy under Trump has emerged as a disruptive threat. The US allies, non-allies and adversaries, all are guessing the next reactionary move of the newly elected US president and the supranational actor, Elon Musk.
Somewhere around Trump’s desire to disrupt the world order lies and attempt to break the BRICS as he famously said once, ‘BRICS is dead’.
The prompt, unhesitating remarks of Trump have often garnered a lot of attention, as the people in the US have elected him as President, and his voice is understandably the voice of America – the new America which seeks to breakdown the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, BRICS and so many other partnerships that the US have with countries across the world.
A weak Trump with a trumpet
Internationally, Trump looks very weak in front of strong-muscled leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese Xi Jinping and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un or his very own DOGE King Elon Musk. Many even see Trump as a Russian agent in the White House, whereas many would call him a puppet of Elon Musk. observe the speeches of Trump closely, he attempts to look tough but ends up as a fanboy of Russia, Musk and Kim and Xi.
To make his appearance ‘tough’, his is often bullying the Canadians, Mexicans, Europe and Ukrainians and BRICS. At times threatening the countries with tariffs, or intimidating them by calling them ‘52nd state’, Trump is trying his best to appear tough. The tariff war is a ‘my way of highway’’ approach.
However, here is a note of caution — diplomacy is process-driven, confidence-building measures take decades and centuries and geopolitical anarchy leads to unstable world order, the two world wars have shown this. Zelenski showed this when he acknowledged the relations between people of the USA and Ukrain are far more important than that of the two leaders.
The major countries like China, and India understand this very well. So, the focus on multilateral world order is very noticeable in the actions of these countries. They collide often, but ensure that channels of negotiatio are open. China is India’s one of the bigges trade parteners, despite the fact that these counties have tough time in the borders. With BRICS, Russia also finds itself well covered.
Europe whose security architecture is based on NATO, and stability is ensured combinedly by the United Nations and NATO, now finds itself like an unprotected pawn in the game of chess. The queen cover has been taken over. So, either the pawn dies or it has to promote itself to make its existence more meaningful.
EU president visited India for stronger partnerships, and the Free Trade Agreement was an attempt to look beyond the USA. Predictably, the next step is to make its security setup — separate from NATO and find more economic and security partners in Asia — India, China, Japan, and South East countries.
If these partnerships are materialized, the EU will see Asia as one of the most important partners, while the distance between the EU and the USA widens.
Having Asia as a crucial partner also translates to BRICS becoming important for the EU and both strengthening each other. The US tariffs and sanctions are already causing discomfort to countries across the world, all this makes BRICS more meaningful, and the de-dollarization more sensible with an eventual isolation of the US. The US hegemony is now over as it shows a lack of leadership, and trust. The fall has started.
