Donald Trump’s second term as President of the United States of America has been turbulent.
His hardline approach to immigration had lead to over 600,000 people being deported and a further 1.6 million losing their legal immigrant status. Trump sent out National Guards – a military reserve force – in key states such as Minnesota to quell protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Taking an interventionist rather than diplomatic approach to foreign policy, the US has bombed seven countries: Iraq, Somalia, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Nigeria and most recently, Venezuela.
His intervention in Venezuela in particular marks a turning point. In January, the US military captured and extrajudicially abducted the country's sitting president Nicolás Maduro, in contradiction with article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter which bars countries from using force against to threaten another's political independence.
Now, his eyes are on taking over Greenland. Many European leaders currently at the World Economic Forum Davos conference are speaking out against Trump and in support of Greenland’s independence.
His reliance on military intervention rather than diplomatic negotiation might signal that the rule of law is fading and a new global world order is emerging.
Academic experts from across City St George’s, University of London, reflect on the anniversary of Trump’s second presidency.
Tariffs reduce the national deficit but leave the US economy less efficient, says economist
Professor Michael Ben-Gad is an expert in economics, with research focuses on macroeconomics, taxation, public debt and the economic impacts of immigration and national security. He said:
When evaluating Trump’s first year, I distinguish between his willingness to confront long-standing problems others have avoided and his erratic, inconsistent policies to address them.
Illegal immigration is a genuine problem and closing the border has worked, but ICE agents running checkpoints to question random US citizens is fraying the social order and is probably illegal.
Universities have become illiberal, political monocultures but his direct intervention creates a dangerous precedent for the left when it next takes power.
Europe has indeed been free riding on US defence spending but threatening to invade the territory of a NATO ally in Greenland will destroy the alliance and undermine his efforts to contain the threat to common Western interests in the Pacific by China and the Middle East by Iran.
Sometimes, the focus is on the symptom, the US trade deficit, rather than its underlying cause, the fiscal deficits that drive down the national rate of savings.
Tariffs along with an effort to weaken the US dollar have reduced the deficit but will leave the US economy less efficient and increasingly isolated as its trading partners forge closer ties with each other and reduce their reliance on the US. The common denominator in each case is the same, the pursuit of positive short-term results chosen for maximal theatricality at the expense of effectiveness or permanence.
Trump’s international economic policy is the new mercantilism, says expert in political economy
Professor Steve Schifferes is an Honorary Research Fellow at City St George’s Political Economy Research Centre (CityPERC). He said:
In his first year in officer, President Trump has upended the international economic order that has prevailed for the last 80 years.
Reversing the US support for free trade which had led to unprecedented global growth, he has weaponised tariffs to suit America’s economic, political and military objectives.
On taking office, he called tariffs his favourite word, and in April he announced that the rest of the world had been ‘ripping off’ America by sending it more goods than it bought – dramatically increasing tariffs on any country with a trade surplus with the US, including some of the poorest.
But Trump’s transactional approach has seen him using the threat of high tariffs for many different objectives, from stopping the import of fentanyl to forcing countries to raise drug prices and invest more in America to demanding that Denmark cedes Greenland to the US. His erratic tariff policy has led to disruption to global supply chains while doing little to revive American manufacturing, his original stated goal.
While the US economy has been boosted by an AI investment boom, the IMF projects that the tariff policy will reduce US growth and increase inflation.
The policy has been even more damaging to major exporting countries like Germany and Japan. But China, whose huge export surplus with the US had originally been Trump’s main concern, had a $1.1 trillion global trade surplus this year, the largest the world has ever seen.”
Behind the dark clouds may be a silver lining, says international politics expert
Professor Inderjeet Parmar is an expert in international relations, with a focus on American imperialism and the global world order. He said:
One year into Trump's second term, the administration has executed an aggressive "America First" agenda with unprecedented speed.
Through over 225 executive orders, the U.S. achieved sharp reductions in border crossings via mass deportations, expanded detention, National Guard deployments, and revived policies like the Laken Riley Act.
Economic measures included permanent 2017 tax cuts, new deductions, and broad tariffs, yielding some trade concessions and short-term manufacturing gains, though sparking inflation, market volatility, and retaliatory actions.
The Department of Government Efficiency drove the dismantling of federal agencies and massive layoffs, while foreign policy featured unilateral illegal military strikes on Iran, Yemen, Syria, and a dramatic operation kidnapping Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, reviving Monroe Doctrine elements amid threats to Greenland, Panama, and Canada.
These bold actions fulfilled core campaign promises on enforcement, nationalism, and transactional deal-making, delivering tangible wins for supporters.
However, the year has been defined by profound mass discontent at home—evidenced by plummeting approval ratings (sharp drops on economy, immigration, and priorities), widespread protests in militarised cities like Minneapolis and Los Angeles, and public perceptions of failure (58% in polls call it a "failure"). Legal challenges, institutional erosion, inequality from cuts, and cronyism allegations fuel division.
Globally, alienation is powerful: allies are shocked at territorial threats, tariff wars, aid cuts, WHO/Paris/UNESCO withdrawals, and abandonment of multilateralism/human rights. Confidence in U.S. leadership has collapsed, alliances strained, and risks of escalation risen—leaving America isolated and the world more unstable.
Ironically, a population on the march to defend democratic rights, and increasingly alienated international allies and partners, may further fuel the decline of American power and its current aggressively repressive and imperialist phase.
