Make America trade again

There will definitely be a push towards multilateralism and more global engagements that was derelict these past four years.

The years of 1944–1945 were seminal. The world both crumbled and began to rejig itself as new pacts and agreements were inked. Since then, the Bretton Woods agreement has seen Washington play a key role in shaping multilateralism through organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Key alliances such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), which at that time was a US-Western Europe synergy against the USSR and its client states in Eastern Europe, were sacrosanct to US foreign policy. There was a consensus that Washington would continue to play a part in key issues pertaining to human rights, democracy, rule of law, climate change and having a say, if not directly, in maintaining regional peace and stability.

American foreign policy’s shibboleth has long espoused a sense of involvement in world affairs. If there was communism, it became Washington’s concern to preclude its pervasive effect; if there was lack of democracy, Washington got involved; if there was suppression of dissent and dictatorship brewing, it meant it aroused Washington’s ire.

There was a consensus that Washington would continue to play a part in key…