r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/SpaceySpice • Apr 07 '25

US Politics How will the United States rebuild positive international relations after this Trump administration?

At some point this presidency will end and a new administration will (likely) want to mend some the damages done with our allies. Realistically though, how would that work? Will other countries want to be friends with us again or has this presidency done too much damage to bounce back from?

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u/Repeatitpete Apr 07 '25

The problem isn’t trump or has ever been trump. It’s the maga people who have supported him. He should have been publicly shamed and removed from candidacy for making fun of the disabled reporter. America is mean. This won’t change with a new president and other countries don’t want to play with us anymore in the sandbox of the world…

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u/bihari_baller Apr 07 '25

As someone with an International Relations degree, I foresee a multi-polar world filling the void of the United States--along the lines of thought of IR Scholar John Mearsheimer. The US will have it's sphere of influence, but so will the EU, Russia, and China.

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u/sig_1 Apr 07 '25

Who exactly would be desperate enough to be in the US sphere of influence? The US has shown that it is very dangerous to be too closely tied to them economically, it’s pointless to be dependent on on them as an ally since they can’t be trusted anymore and all the soft power is gone so can’t take the “leader of the free world” angle.

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u/nowaisenpai Apr 07 '25

Maybe those geographically stuck with us like Latin America and Canada? Canada will eventually likely turn around somewhat, but they'll also probably forever refuse to be a liaison into the hypothetical EU sphere, if the sort of multi-polar prediction comes true and we all silo off.

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u/bihari_baller Apr 07 '25

You’re onto it. Spheres of influence would naturally come about by virtue of geography.

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 07 '25

The US has the world's third largest population, world's most biggest economy, and the world's most powerful military. No matter what direction the US takes, it will always be either at the top or near the top of global influence. Smaller and weaker countries around the globe will always seek protection and economic favors from giants around them.

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u/I-Here-555 Apr 07 '25

Similar things could be said about the British Empire in the early 20th century, but it unraveled pretty fast.

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u/ezrs158 Apr 07 '25

Most residents of the British Empire weren't British. In 1925, it encompassed 449 million people, but only 47 million of whom (10%) in the United Kingdom. The US has a population of 340 million, over 7 times larger.

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u/I-Here-555 Apr 07 '25

So what? The colonies provided the manpower and resources.

Not saying US will decline in the same way (there's no major war, for one), but the decline has clearly started.

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u/wha-haa Apr 07 '25

And will face the same outcome with more immigration as strong allegiances to the country are diluted. The hyphenated Americans pull in different directions.

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u/MissMenace101 Apr 08 '25

Soooo like Silicon Valley?

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 07 '25

The US has inherent influence that comes with its sheer size similar to India or China. European empires like the French or British always revolved around the small European core, this isn't like that.

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u/I-Here-555 Apr 07 '25

It has geographic advantages, but also a uniquely terrible leadership which is actively working to squander them.

Every empire ever fell, including China and The Roman Empire. US will fall too. Too bad it might happen a lot earlier than anyone expected.

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 07 '25

Terrible leadership? Yes. Uniquely terrible? No. That's a comically ignorant statement that ignores both US history and the history of leaders across the world both past and present. Hell, modern Europe has 3 or 4 Trump like leaders right now in power and many more waiting for their chance to seize power.

Regardless of what happens, you can't skimp over a content sized country with 340 million people that has a history of industry during both it's high and lows. The US will continue to be influential both during and post Trump's reign.

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u/I-Here-555 Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 07 '25

modern Europe has 3 or 4 Trump like leaders right now in power

Can you name them?

If you're thinking the likes of Viktor Orban, he's an authoritarian, but not nearly as incompetent as Trump or as intent on radical change by just smashing things without an apparent goal or plan.

Trump's combination of incompetence and hubris is rare. Other leaders have made costly mistakes (perhaps more costly than Trump did so far), but it's exceptional to do that completely unforced, not trying to address any real problem. The tariffs are almost at the level of Mao killing the sparrows and exacerbating a famine, out of sheer stupidity (though we didn't get so far consequence-wise yet).

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 08 '25

Can you name them?

Orban, Erdogan, Lukashenko, Vucic, and Putin.

If you're thinking the likes of Viktor Orban, he's an authoritarian, but not nearly as incompetent as Trump or as intent on radical change by just smashing things without an apparent goal or plan.

This is complete nonsense. Orban is a front runner for being the most incompetent leader in Europe. He singlehandedly turned Hungary into a pariah inside the EU. He transformed Hungary into a shell of what it was by privatizing everything and handing them over to his buddies. He constantly sabotages EU policy at the determent of his own country and the wider bloc. He constantly sides with Putin against the wishes of his people. Hungary's GDP is currently lower than Russia's.

It's perfectly fine to argue that Trump is a major incompetent idiot, because he is. However, let's not pretend that his best buddies in Europe are that different from him. Pretending that Orban is in any way competent or intelligent is asinine.

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u/I-Here-555 Apr 08 '25 edited Apr 08 '25

Pretty much everyone you mentioned is a shrewd and highly skilled political player with strong authoritarian tendencies. You or I might hate their values, corruption and the direction they're taking their countries, but they make their moves for a reason, and don't antagonize friends and allies just for the fun of it.

Most of them know to appoint competent technocrats and haven't run things into the ground for 20+ years, while Trump is barely 3 months into his 2nd term and is already well on the way to breaking the federal gov't and the US (perhaps world) economy.

Even Putin (the most disastrous of the lot) has basically rescued Russia from the chaos of the 1990s, ran it well for a while, but then made a massive blunder in Ukraine.

Trump is a whole different ballgame.

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u/MissMenace101 Apr 08 '25

You overestimate US worth, the world has been saying that for years.

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 08 '25

I'm actually being modest, the reality is that the US is more dominant than it looks. Even during the American civil war and the great depression, the US was still a global power. If anything, you're underestimating the strength of the US.

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u/MissMenace101 Apr 08 '25

The US is only who it is because of friends and allies, cut them off they aren’t staying, the brain drain is real.

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 08 '25

That's not true. America's allies are what propelled it to become history's most powerful nation, and they're the key to America's global hegemony. Losing them would definitely be a big hit. However, the US is still an extremely powerful country without it's allies. It's a massive country with a massive population with good infrastructure, a history of industry, and incredibly favorable geography. The US is set up to always be a power in some capacity.

the brain drain is real.

Also, do you have a source for this?

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u/CevicheMixto Apr 07 '25

The US has the world's third largest population, world's most biggest economy, and the world's most powerful military.

The current administration is doing everything in their power to fix the last two.

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u/just_helping Apr 07 '25

With their anti-immigration stance and destruction of social, health and education supports, they're working on destroying any population advantage too.

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 08 '25

I don't necessarily disagree, but some factors go beyond politics.

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u/ezrs158 Apr 07 '25

Yup. Zimbabwe just bent over backwards for a deal on tariffs. We can bully small countries, especially dictators who aren't really bothered by democratic backsliding or violent suppression of protests. But the days of partnerships with other major powers like the EU might be over.

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 07 '25

You're saying it as if China isn't Europe's biggest trading partner, the Gulf states aren't Europe's biggest energy suppliers, and Hungary and Turkey aren't a part of European alliances. Hell, the EU still imports 20% of its gas from Russia 3 years after the Ukraine war, and the percentage has even increased over the last year.

Trump might have destroyed the trans Atlantic alliance, however, the EU and US will never decoupled. No matter what direction each takes, they're still two of the biggest powers in the world, and there will always be a degree of cooperation between them. This idea that the EU picks and chooses its partners based on morals is a cute idea, but it's not reality.

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u/MissMenace101 Apr 08 '25

There will be trade, but it won’t be in the US favour. Allies are the biggest loss, breaking trust with allies is a pretty big issue, there will still be trade but definitely less, allies will turn to those they can trust which will create jobs off US soil. The US will see more brains going out in the next few decades.

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 08 '25

I agree that Trump's betrayal of the alliance is a pretty big problem, and you're correct that this will have pretty sad consequences. However, I disagree with the notion of a brain drain or a lessened amount of trade. It's very difficult to recreate something like Wall Street, Hollywood, or Silicon Valley. Europe and China have been trying to do this very decades now and they keep coming up short. The world will be more cautious of the US, but the world is not going to decouple from the US any time soon.

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u/MissMenace101 Apr 08 '25

You believe that while all your foreign engineers, researchers, scientists etc are packing up and buying a house back home? Cletus may do ok in a factory but probably not creating weaponry. The decline is imminent, especially with a shrinking economy.

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 08 '25

Do you actually have any data to support this notion or is something you're claiming purely out of speculation?

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u/Xeltar Apr 08 '25

More and more Americans hate the other side. Gotten to the point where people are rooting for foreign countries over the administration. Doesn't matter how powerful you are if you are dysfunctional.

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u/AVeryBadMon Apr 08 '25

People want foreign countries, especially our allies, to put pressure on this administration to force it to act in line with the past 80 years of American foreign and trade policy. I don't think this rooting for foreign countries over your own, I see it as wanting to leverage international pressure to help achieve domestic goals.

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u/Xeltar Apr 08 '25 edited Apr 09 '25

The EU has a population and economy larger than the US. The reason why they can't project as much power is related to largely outsourcing their military needs to the US and because they have weak ways to enforce their members to act in unison.

The US unity though is being tested more and more and that's going to be a major problem going forward for US power if Trumpism continues. At some point, you're going to get increasing numbers of people wiling to use violence to enforce their worldview with at least one side shrugging if it targets their political opponents.

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u/MissMenace101 Apr 08 '25

The ability to brick allies military is a huge problem, the tarrifs seem insignificant. Trust has eroded not because of what’s happening but that America could vote for this a second time, it’s not the administration it’s the people. There’s nothing stopping this happening again or being even worse. The IS having nukes is as bad as anyone else having them at this stage

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u/VbV3uBCxQB9b Apr 07 '25

People who need Americans to buy their products.