It is commonly assessed that the foreign policy of the United States changed for good after the 9/11 attacks. But that is not the case, per se. America is transforming under the second presidency of Donald Trump, and it seems there isn’t any looking back. The maverick style of governance of the impulsive leader is startling in essence, and it is a foregone conclusion that he means business. In his endeavour to make America great again, Trump is building new bridges and burning old boats. For him apparently his countrymen’s interests are supreme, and he takes no qualms in saying it so categorically, as he humbly sits at his Oval office taking on dignitaries with a pinch of salt – and at times in pandemonium — as they beg to differ; and letting them walk away only after nodding to his dogma of realpolitik.
The duel with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House was a manifest of America’s egocentrism, and how Trump and his vice, DJ Vance, see the world at large from the prism of otherness. It is exceptional that an ally was treated like a pariah and made to listen that without Washington, Kiev cannot stand in the battlefield even for a day.
The altercation boiled down to the realization that Ukraine has no choice but to make peace with Russia, sign on the dotted lines to trade its precious minerals with the US, and last but not least, stop looking towards NATO and the EU in redefining its new identity. This piece of diplomacy will be jotted down in history as Trump’s triumph, but to the annoyance of Europe and conventional allies who now onwards will keep their fingers crossed.
A glance at Trump’s vision for a world order suggests that Yalta-2 is in the making. Perhaps, the New-Yorker billionaire is influenced by Russian oligarchy, and wants to leave behind a legacy of reaching out to the Kremlin after decades of animosity, bad blood and suspicion.
Walking closely in the footsteps of his predecessor President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was the architect of roping in legendary Soviet statesman Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for erecting a New World Order on the ashes of World War II as Nazi Germany was biting dust in 1945, Trump believes that a new No-Rules Based World Order should come into being with Washington and Moscow as perpetual allies. Perhaps, the reasoning behind his thought-process is to shun wars across the spectrum in, and to slowly and gradually abdicate the burden of Europe and undesired allies in Asia.
Will this Yalta-2.0 materialize into a new power nexus is anybody’s guess. But Donald Trump, the 47th President of the United States, is in for it. Somewhere at the back of his mind is the ‘Reverse Kissinger Triangle’ Strategy, wherein Trump now wants to take on China by befriending Russia. The slapping of sanctions to save Manhattan from being swamped by Chinese, and at the same time praising President Xi Jinping is a case in point.
For many it is an antithesis of the Cold War’s most well-nursed policy prescription doctored by Henry Kissinger. But at the same time Kissinger, the foreign policy guru, was an advocate of a pragmatic approach with Moscow too, famously known as détente, and side by side orchestrated a ‘shuttle diplomacy’ in the Middle East. Trump with his Kautilyas’ such as Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Mike Waltz and John Ratcliffe is in for a purpose. They all know the art of taking a stance and Trump’s intuition to talk it out from the pulpit has made foreign policy a domestic subject.
Americans, as never before, are now coming to know of their geographic utility as the new administration takes on Canada, Mexico, Denmark and the Panama Canal, and endeavours to buy out or annex Greenland. Moreover, the ingrained introspection at work to screen-out quasi-immigrants from a nation of immigrants and to tighten visa restrictions on a quarter of the Planet is radicalism and quite un-American, to say the least. But America under President Trump will be a serious nation-state to interact, and not a buffoon ally or a compromised entity.
The only obstacle to the scheme of things that Trump has in the form of checkmating Kiev and striking cordiality with Moscow could be the Czar of Russia, Vladimir Putin. No one can guess with certainty what the former KGB sleuth is up for. While he is known for talking through his eyes, and knows how to play his cards well, he is also admired for charming his adversaries. So he did, as he surprised the pundits of doom by agreeing to listen to what Trump’s aides have to say under the talks brokered by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman in Riyadh. Putin’s eagerness to work with Trump, and listen to the logic of being on the same page in world affairs is an epoch-making development.
Their chemistry, however, is in need of being studied very closely and micro-managed, as either side could blow the trumpet at any moment of their political exigency – and walk free. The same happened after Roosevelt’s death, as Harry Truman clashed with the Soviets over their influence in Eastern Europe.
An adventurous Ukraine being pampered by Brussels, and oscillating between Moscow and Washington could be a prelude to disaster. Trump left no brief in scolding Zelensky as he made him aware that his country is sitting on a time bomb, potential enough to trigger World War-III. Thus, Trump and Putin must talk it out before hanging in their gloves.
One of the most crucial changes of perceptions under Trump 2.0 is the dawn of the realization that the world has gone multipolar. Vice-President JD Vance, a Marine Corps veteran himself, admits that Washington does not sit at the pinnacle of unipolarity anymore, and there is a realpolitik transformation underway wherein China, India, the Global South and the Middle East apart from Russia and Europe will have open and shut stakes in global governance.
That is genuine thinking, and might make diplomacy more accessible while dealing with crosscurrents of interdependence and pluralism. It is a departure that the US leadership is no more interested in seeing the world from the barrel of the gun. The intentions to avoid another meddling in Afghanistan, let Taiwan be on its own, the South China Sea become a competitive zone in trade rather than aircraft carriers and Gaza and Palestine see an independent day of governance are salient features of this hallmark thinking.
That testifies a New World Order is in the making, and thus Trump’s rubbing of shoulders with Narendra Modi, Xi Jinping, Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Muhammad bin Zayed, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Muhammad bin Salman and, of course, Vladimir Putin on the premise of new power brokers will seal the fate of American maneuvering and leadership in a renewed phase of bilateralism, apparently free from the cluster of conventional alliances on ideological circumference. Thus, QUAD, AUKUS, I2U2, NATO and Five Eyes will sooner than later be auxiliary in essence as personalization of ties will take precedence. Trump’s administration has already set the ball rolling by declaring that it has “no-love lost” for NATO, and does not care anymore for Europe and Canada.
The message to NATO member states is simple: dig deep into your pockets and not to take the security blanket as a free ride. JD Vance’s speech at Munich was a red flag as there are rumours that the US would not mind exiting NATO.
The same impression tongue-incheek was conveyed to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, as he met Trump on March 13, 2025, at the Oval Office.
One of the prime reasons for this muscle-flexing could be Trump’s abrupt pivot toward Russia in the Ukraine war. NATO, once a conglomerate of western military prowess and prestige, is now in an existential crisis, as the US looks the other way around.
This reminds me of Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk’s sarcastic notation, as he said, “500 million Europeans ask 300 million Americans to protect them from 140 million Russians.” That is all so because the most powerful man in global politics is determined for a reset with Russia.
It would not be out of context to quote renowned British writer and security analyst Edward Lucas, who loves to call Trump a ‘Russian asset’. None could have ever wondered even in the wildest of dreams of any American president lobbying to make life easy for the Russians.
The bohemian president is doing it, and has a plan too: he wants to extract concessions from Russia by forcing Ukraine into a ceasefire, asking Putin to spare the lives of thousands of Ukrainian troops, and guaranteeing the Kremlin that NATO will stop way behind the Urals.
That is the deal of the century in the making and comprehensive enough to transform the world for many more decades to come — even after Trump and Putin exit the Hall of Fame.
