In 2026, the Phelan US Centre ran an essay competition for LSE master’s students with the prompt, “What role can democratic citizenry play in shaping America’s role in the world as it enters its 250th year?"

The global economy is undergoing profound transformation. Geopolitical realignments, rising economic nationalism, climate disruption, trade fragmentation, and technological upheaval are reshaping the foundations of international economic relations.

The 1990s were an important decade. They saw the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, falling trade barriers, an expanding capitalist democratic order and the rise of what came to be called the liberal international order.

The last two decades have seen significant growth in the relationship between China and the EU. Now, China is the EU’s biggest import and third-largest export partner. But this relationship is becoming increasingly one sided.

While Trump’s foreign policy record has not been very successful elsewhere as wars continue to rage in Ukraine and in the Middle East, the exception is Europe which Trump seems to want to divide and weaken.

The last decade has seen a period of prolonged competition between the US and China with China continuing to grow economically and pursue technological self-reliance while the US attempts to hinder this growth through measures like export controls.

Donald Trump’s first presidential term meant that many allies, including in the EU and Europe, were forced to consider the possibility that the United States could no longer be a reliable partner in global affairs.

To talk about Donald Trump’s foreign policy, in February 2026 the Phelan US Centre spoke to Walter Russell Mead

From the rise of Donald Trump in the US, Brexit in the United Kingdom and Victor Orban in Hungary and National Rally in France, anti-system populists have seen a resurgence in many western democracies in the last decade.

From China’s growing influence in Europe to deepening Russia–China cooperation and the ripple effects of Trump’s America First policies, Eurasia has emerged as a single, highly contested geopolitical space.