The well-worn business phrase “push and pull” neatly captures the essence of today’s US–China relations. What once looked like a competitive partnership has hardened into a contest of wills, power, and identity. One that will shape the global order for years to come.
For much of the late 20th century and the first decade of the 21st, the dominant Western assumption was that the world was moving toward a liberal, universal order. Economic interdependence, global markets and single rule-sets were supposed to smooth away historical grievances and cultural differences. In that vision, civilizational identities – the deep structures of tradition, culture, and worldview – were treated almost as relics.
That era is over. The liberal order began to crack long before Donald Trump entered the White House, but his arrival made the rupture visible and irreversible. As the old framework faltered, the pendulum swung back toward identity, difference, and civilizational self-assertion. The question now is not whether this shift is happening, it clearly is, but how the world will function within it.
The Trump effect
George W. Bush once promised “compassionate conservatism.” Barack Obama framed power in eloquent multilateral terms. Trump dispensed with such packaging. In less than a year in office, he changed not only American diplomacy but the global expectations surrounding it. Washington, under Trump, rediscovered a bluntness that previous generations tried to bury under layers of institutional polish.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: rt.com
