Trump administration's 100-day agenda: A foreign policy in disarray

Editor's note: Zhang Tengjun is deputy director of the Department for American Studies at the China Institute of International Studies. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

As the Trump administration approached its first 100 days in office, its foreign policy actions – marked by radical assaults on the international order – had descended into a quagmire of strategic chaos and compounding crises at home and abroad.

Driven by shortsightedness and hegemonic logic, the administration risks plunging the United States into a self-inflicted abyss of decline.

Self-defeating tariff wars: The cost of "America first"

The administration's 100-day agenda opened with aggressive trade protectionism. Through launching multiple rounds of tariff wars, most notably the so-called reciprocal tariffs imposed on global partners on April 2, the US has triggered global upheaval, delivering a systemic blow to global trade, financial markets and industrial supply chains.

These tariffs ignited severe financial turbulence. US markets suffered a "triple sell-off" in stocks, bonds and forex: the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 plummeted by over 8 percent, 10-year Treasury yields spiked by 25 basis points on April 9, and the US dollar index dropped more than 5 percent since February. International observers decried this as "economic self-sabotage," a policy blunder undermining the very foundations of US financial stability.

The tariffs also disrupted global trade norms. The World Trade Organization (WTO) estimates that US tariff measures introduced since early 2025 could shrink global merchandise trade by 1 percent this year– a staggering 4 percentage point downward revision from prior forecasts.

Worse still, the uncertainty caused by US policies could plunge the world into a 1930s-style depression. Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, warns that this is not merely about tariffs but a "classic breakdown of the major monetary, political, and geopolitical orders" that only happens once in a lifetime.

Meanwhile, the administration's promise to "reshore manufacturing" via tariffs has backfired spectacularly. Instead of reviving domestic manufacturing, these measures have become a noose tightening around the US economy, with import prices soaring, corporate costs spiking and consumers in panic-buying mode.

The "reciprocal tariffs," far from boosting American competitiveness, have sounded a death knell for US economic vitality.

Coercive diplomacy laid bare: The failure of might-makes-right logic

The US has weaponized coercion, routinely bullying nations through extreme pressure. From labeling Canada the "51st state" and threatening to "reclaim" the Panama Canal to rebranding the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America," the administration seeks to resurrect the Monroe Doctrine, turning "America for the Americas" into "America for Americans alone."

Proposals to "purchase" Greenland or annex it by force, alongside plans to "empty Gaza," lay bare its neocolonial ambitions – a 19th-century "jungle law" mindset trapped in a 21st-century world.

Tying foreign policy to domestic politics, the US lectures European allies on governance, slaps tariffs on Canada and Mexico under the pretext of "stopping fentanyl" and dismisses nations with vulgar rhetoric– disregarding even basic norms of statecraft and international ethics.

Yet this "big stick" strategy has reached a dead end.

Global opposition to US expansionism is mounting, as nations increasingly reject neo-imperialism. The tariff war was forced into a temporary delay. US attempts to mediate a Gaza ceasefire collapsed, reigniting Middle East tensions; while its mediation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict has only deepened the crisis.

These failures starkly demonstrate that hegemonic politics are not just outdated but impotent.

The bitter fruit of US unilateralism

In its first 100 days, the administration withdrew from the World Health Organization, the Paris Agreement and the UN Human Rights Council while halting funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency. By bypassing the WTO to impose tariffs, it rendered global trade rules obsolete. Republican senators have even proposed legislation to terminate US membership in the UN and its agencies.

This "withdrawal diplomacy" has crippled the authority and efficiency of the UN-centered international system.

Organizations have been forced to slash programs and staff, imperiling global efforts on climate change, public health and humanitarian aid. The US, once the architect of multilateralism, now stands as its most aggressive destroyer. Few nations have followed its lead in quitting global bodies; instead, the world has witnessed the erosion of American credibility, a victim of its own ideological recklessness.

The 100-day agenda on foreign policy reflects a desperate gamble to reimpose US dominance under the banner of "America First" – a last-ditch effort of a fading hegemonic logic.

Yet, as tariffs backfire, coercion fails and isolation deepens, the US is paying a historic price for its hubris. History will prove that in an era of multipolarity and globalization, nations that uphold international rules, fairness and multilateral cooperation – not those clinging to obsolete hegemony – will shape the future.

The twilight of US dominance signals not an end, but a necessary reckoning: The world demands a post-hegemonic order rooted in shared responsibility, not in the delusion of American exceptionalism.

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