Early Access: The End of the Long American Century

U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to foreign policy reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of how the United States stays strong, argue Robert Keohane and the late Joseph Nye in a new essay from the forthcoming issue of Foreign Affairs. Trump has correctly identified that U.S. military might and trade deficits provide leverage over partners—but he is using that leverage in “counterproductive ways.”
Trump’s coercion of allies and withdrawal from international institutions may yield short-term gains, but these policies undermine the “patterns of interdependence that strengthen American power,” Keohane and Nye warn. “Instead of making America great again,” they write, Trump “is making a tragic bet on weakness” that could bring the era of U.S. dominance to “an unceremonious end.”

© 2025 Council on Foreign Relations | 58 East 68th Street, New York NY | 10065

To ensure we can contact you, please add us to your email address book or safe list.
This email was sent to newsletter@newslettercollector.com.
.
Receiving too many emails? Unsubscribe and manage your email preferences here.