The World-Minus-One Moment

The United States hasn’t always been an ideal champion of international cooperation. It tended toward isolationism when it was a rising power and unilateralism when it became a superpower. But Trump’s approach to reshaping the world order offers a new and dangerous mix of isolationism and aggrandizement. He is contemptuous of multilateralism and fixated by the raw exercise of power. So are his supporters. This likely means that whatever happens in Washington, Trumpism will outlive a president who turns 80 this year.

In his second term, U.S. President Donald Trump has led a sustained assault on the foundations of the global order. He has nakedly flouted international law, wrecked the system of global trade with unilateral tariffs on scores of countries, and withdrawn the United States from important multilateral bodies.

In his second term, U.S. President Donald Trump has led a sustained assault on the foundations of the global order. He has nakedly flouted international law, wrecked the system of global trade with unilateral tariffs on scores of countries, and withdrawn the United States from important multilateral bodies.

The United States hasn’t always been an ideal champion of international cooperation. It tended toward isolationism when it was a rising power and unilateralism when it became a superpower. But Trump’s approach to reshaping the world order offers a new and dangerous mix of isolationism and aggrandizement. He is contemptuous of multilateralism and fixated by the raw exercise of power. So are his supporters. This likely means that whatever happens in Washington, Trumpism will outlive a president who turns 80 this year.

Pundits and political scientists have long anticipated the end of the United States’ unipolar moment and the rise of a more multipolar order. Trump is often cited as an accelerant in this process. The reality is that he has given rise to something altogether different. The United States will remain the most economically and militarily powerful country in the world for several more years. But it will be absent from, if not actively hostile toward, the existing international order. This unique configuration is not multipolarity but rather the world minus one.

The question then is how the international community should respond. Maintaining global cooperation in spite of Washington will be difficult. To survive Trumpism and emerge stronger, existing multilateral institutions must adapt, reform, and redouble their efforts. If they do so successfully, the United States will one day be compelled to rejoin on more egalitarian terms.

The two men shake hands onstage next to a lectern in front of a row of tall multi-colored flags on stands. Both men wear black suits and ties.

The idea of the world minus one has taken on new significance in Trump’s second term. Since early 2025, I have used the terms “world minus X,” “world minus the United States,” and “world minus one” to describe the new world order. Former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong helped popularize the concept in July, using “the world temporarily minus one” to more narrowly refer to managing global economics and trade without U.S. leadership. However, the condition transcends economics and speaks to the core challenge of our era.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright famously described the United States as the indispensable nation, without which the creation or maintenance of international cooperation would not happen. This assumption has underpinned fears that as Washington abandons its commitment to the global order, the world will grow less cooperative and more violent.

The history of international relations tells a different story.