Spheres of Influence

Donald Trump is channeling the great power politics of past centuries to deal with China and Russia, experts tell Newsweek

- ΤΟΜ O'CONNOR

SPEAKING IN THE U.S. CAPITOL Building rotunda that his supporters had violently stormed just four years earlier in an effort to return him to power, President Donald Trump appeared to declare war on all that came before.

His fiery second inaugural address was far from ahistorical, however. Rather, it channeled the founding instincts of a geographically isolated superpower now looking to renegotiate its global hegemony and secure its position closer to home.

Trump proposes a return to a foreign policy outlook more familiar to the nation upon its emergence in rebellion to an overextended British Empire 250 years ago, and only departed from over the past century-notably in the decisions to intervene in World War I and World War II.

Today, as the world teeters on the brink of another global conflict, most consequential of all may be Trump's dealings with two men considered to be the top challengers to U.S. global dominance. Trump intends to bargain directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to recalibrate the U.S. role in a decaying world order, carve out spheres of influence and enforce his "peace through strength" doctrine.

"The lessons of pre-1914 geopolitics are many," Alexander Gray, who previously served as Trump's deputy assistant and National Security Council chief of staff, told Newsweek. "But they include the importance of open communication among great powers to avoid misunderstandings about intentions, as capabilities can be misconstrued; the need to avoid entangling alliances that no longer serve core national interests; and the importance of concentrating military resources on the key theaters of potential conflict, for deterrence purposes, rather than spreading scarce resources too broadly (in the case of the U.K.).