The post-war international economic order was based on American leadership tempered by multilateralism. History and theory suggest that regimes change when major actors are no longer willing to fulfil the expectations others have of their behaviour. Over the past decade and more, socio-economic and political trends have eroded American domestic support for international economic engagement. The second Trump Administration has used its 2024 electoral victory to take the country far down the path of changing the nature of American leadership and revising or rejecting American commitments to multilateralism. Regime change is underway.
Jeffry Frieden (2026) studied this question.