Trump Pursuing Repressive Retrenchment to Defend US Supremacy: Scholar

Since coming into power, the Trump administration has been using economic nationalism to fight globalism and replace multilateralism with bilateral deals that stress sovereignty. The administration is pursuing repressive retrenchment, Zhao argued. On the one hand, it puts America first and defines the national interest in a narrow sense in order to reduce its costs in participating in and leading global affairs. On the other, the retrenchment is also repressive – it seeks to force concessions out of competitors using bullying and extortive measures like trade wars. Trump has also been trying to consolidate the US military supremacy in the world and deviating from the US conventional diplomacy, including calling the EU a "foe."

Zhao warned that repressive retrenchment is not merely a withdrawal, nor does it mean the US will let go of its global leadership position. It is a “retreat-for-the-sake-of-advancing” strategy, and it is a solution to the domestic problems brought about by globalization and the challenge of the relative decline of US supremacy. Zhao added that the strategy is designed to build a new world order that is more beneficial to and will remain under US control. 

The strategy is having a profound impact on the transformation of the international order, as well as being one of the fundamental contributors to the change in China-US relations, the scholar wrote. The "uncertainty, fear and hostility" created by the US sponsored trade war, he warned, could drag the world economy into another crisis, as some US economists have predicted.  He also noted that Trump’s policies have shown some degree of continuity. Even after he is no longer president, his policies’ profound impact on the US and the world will linger on. Trumpism merits serious attention.