How has Trump 2.0 challenged the rules-based order?
And is the translation into a power-based order inevitable? 

In an interview with the EUI’s research communication team, I took stock of one year of Trump 2.0: 

• Trump 2.0 doubled down on "America first": The unprecedented scope and speed of US withdrawals from int' institutions and the transgression of int' norms challenge the material and ideational foundations of the rules-based order and risk accelerating a shift toward unconstrained great-power politics.

• But the erosion of the rules-based order is not inevitable: The EU and other Western powers can once again adapt multilateral institutions as they did under Trump 1.0. Where feasible, they can try to accommodate reasonable U.S. concerns. Where necessary, they should defend institutions together with like-minded partners in the Global South.

• Overlapping institutions can contribute to resilience or decline: The dense institutionalization and the growth of informal and hybrid institutions can provide the order‘s defenders with flexibility to quickly respond to challenges. But competition between overlapping institutions over increasingly scarce resources can also constrain effective responses. When exclusive clubs bypass or actively undermine core institutions, like Trump's Board of Peace, they can drive the rules-based order's destruction. 

• Europe can make a difference: The future of the rules-based order depends less on US disengagement alone and more on whether other powerful actors step up to lead, adapt, and defend its core institutions!