America’s inward turn spells disaster for global prosperity

Trump signing a slew of executive orders in the Oval Office in Washington last month that have upended US federal governance as well as world trade. — AP

POST-World War II, a new global architecture emerged which rested on American hegemony. Its military might and dominance secured international peace, while the US dollar and SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) system propped up a lattice of global trade and investment, driving economic growth and worldwide prosperity.

Enter President Donald Trump, whose foreign policy gambits, marked by a defiance of alliances and a penchant for unilateralism, threaten to dismantle this edifice, casting doubt on the endurance of a system long synonymous with American might and vision.