The author argues that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is uninterested in taking up the burden the U.S. has born for 70 years of assuring global order. Trump’s call for “America First” predates him, having risen to prominence following the U.S. wars in the Middle East and the economic recession. While Trump’s victory marks a break with the U.S. internationalist tradition, it does not signal "a ‘return’ to a mythical American isolationism," but rather a return to American engagement on the world stage only when a narrow scope of American interests is at stake. This would mean redirecting foreign policy resources to fighting immediate threats and judging other nations in terms of their willingness to help. This would make most countries irrelevant, barring a few notable exceptions, including Russia. Otherwise, foreign policy would be guided by national economic interests. Prior to WWII, the U.S. evaded global responsibility for twenty years. Eventually America “will discover, again, that there is no escape. The question is how much damage is done in the meantime and whether, unlike in the past, it will be too late to recover.”

Read the full article at the Financial Times.

Image in the public domain, artist unidentified.