Multilateralism, in brief, refers to multiple countries working together to achieve a common goal through diverse membership in international institutions. As Charvet and Mota argue, multilateralism and international cooperation exist, as no nation can be shielded from global threats, regardless of the framing of altruism or geopolitical interests. They require reconciling short-term national interests with long-term global prosperity for mankind. Such reconciliation, however, is at odds with the sweeping “America First” agenda, as multilateralism takes time, compromises self-interests, and requires subsidies from wealthier and more powerful states. Donald Trump and his administration do not want that.

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Although the retreat from globalization, multilateralism, and global governance has been perceptible over the past decade, the Trump administration is taking it to a whole new level. Both his first and second presidencies were marked by withdrawals, or announcements of withdrawals from significant international organizations, treaties, and agreements. These withdrawals, funding cuts, and denunciations of international institutions, spanning critical sectors such as trade and finance, climate change, geopolitical security, foreign aid, human rights, and public health, reflect a unifying theme: a fundamental shift toward unilateralism, protectionism, and anti-globalism under the “America First” foreign policy. This political orientation prioritizes U.S. interests above all else, disregarding the far-reaching consequences of wars, conflicts, climate collapse, pandemics, and other global crises on regions, countries, and communities beyond U.S. borders.

Beyond multilateral institutions, the Trump administration also poses a serious threat to the rule-based international order. Biersteker outlined the contours of classic liberal institutionalism: In the global society, the equal dignity and sovereign integrity of different states are supported with rules of law that are maintained through the articulation and enforcement of norms, as well as constitutional checks in the form of interventions by the UN Security Council that are intended to maintain international peace and security.

These are the foundations of the........

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