From Trump to Xi Jinping: Globalization's Great Rupture
The second Trump administration’s trade policy represents a rupture with the United States’ international commitments and a seismic shock for the multilateral trade system. Its destabilizing impact has been exacerbated by China’s disproportionate trade surplus, which has doubled since the 2020 pandemic. We are entering a new era marked by the erosion of norms and their replacement by a more transactional logic. For Europe, the challenge is enormous.
Sébastien Jean is professor of economics at Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM) and a Associate Director of Ifri’s Geoeconomics and Geofinance initiative.
This article is only available in French and published in Politique étrangère, Vol. 91, No. 1, 2026.
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