Great Again? Trump’s America must re-embrace multilateralism

During the run-up to the presidential election, Donald Trump appeared to have drawn inspiration from the April 1932 radio address by former president Franklin D Roosevelt, famously referred to as The Forgotten Man Speech. Roosevelt had drawn the attention of lawmakers to work for the well-being of the poor and the common American working-class citizen, “the forgotten man”, whose tireless efforts will make America great. Trump promised to work for the poor and ‘hard-working American citizens’, bring manufacturing back to America, end costly wars that drain the American exchequer, and Make America Great Again (MAGA).

Right on day one, Trump seems to have begun working on his promises, much to the euphoria of the working class and consternation in several world capitals, including in India. His amendments to the citizenship laws and anti-immigration policies could severely affect the job market in India, not to mention the setback to the IT industry in the country.

America has every right to become great, with or without Trump at the helm. It has been great all along these 80 years after World War 2, at least by two key parameters – military strength and economy. Trump should know that America cannot become great by making other countries, friends and foes alike, poor or mediocre, militarily and economically weak. Technology has greatly influenced the upgrading of military prowess of regional powers like China and India catapulting them to the global high table. The North-South divide has disappeared resulting in the emergence of a robust and united south-south cooperative framework.

The Trump administration will have to dismount the high horse and stop pretending that the world is out to destroy the present world order – an order that was not created overnight. There is a series of interconnected events, threats, setbacks and victories that culminate in a broad understanding and adherence to a set of rules, often framed by no single country but followed by everyone for common security and economic benefits. Soon after the end of World War 2 and the beginning of the Cold War, the then Soviet Union was seen as a major threat to the war-weary Western European states and the Communist ideology needed to be combated with a much stronger, united, and preferably institutionalised dogma.

Harry Truman and his Secretary of State Dean Gooderham Acheson, Truman’s main foreign policy advisor from 1945 to 1947 during the early Cold War years, convinced Western Europe of the need for a “new sense of unity” with a “sense of urgency” and if not a ‘United States of Europe’, at least an Atlantic Alliance to prepare for the new Cold War and post-war economic reconstruction. The US envisaged the establishment of several Euro-Atlantic institutions, most importantly NATO and the Marshall Plan, aiming to guarantee security and prosperity of the member-countries during the Cold War and to protect liberal democracy and progressive values of an open society that unite them under multiculturalism.

The economic and military relevance of Atlanticism is over. Trump should understand that the need for a larger cooperative framework with countries of the South, and more prominently with India, will ensure both economic progress and global security under a robust world order. Therefore, in the light of emerging economies and middle powers gaining greater relevance, the Indo-Pacific, QUAD, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) require greater attention to secure peace and progress. Thankfully, the first serious multilateral meeting under Trump 2.0 was held between QUAD members and the US Secretary of State Mark Rubio. Incidentally, Trump took the lead in reviving the QUAD in 2017 and has been an ardent supporter of its agenda.

In 2000, the then Secretary General of NATO, Lord George Robertson, said, “There is an Indian saying that a bridge never sleeps,” alluding the metaphor of the bridge to Atlanticism. In the present context, it is India which is a bridge of “substance and permanence” linking continents, and the US and the multilateral world, in a commitment to one another.

Trump’s idea of rolling out a new tariff regime could greatly impact international business, trade and commerce. Multilateral trade institutions and forums like BRICS and ASEAN may have to prepare to deal with a new trade regime. But Trump’s tariff war will surely affect American industry, consumers and business. Just as he borrowed the ‘Forgotten Man’ idea, hopefully, he would take a leaf out of the same speech wherein Roosevelt said, “our factories can turn out more products than we as a Nation can possibly use ourselves.” He suggested that America should aggressively export but many countries cannot trade with the US because of the tariffs. Trump should know how imposing high tariffs on imports may not, after all, make America great again.