The international policy of the United States during the current term of office of Donald Trump is characterized by an approach that, rather than responding to the principles of rational and communicative deliberation promoted by Jürgen Habermas, followed a logic typical of game theory. This theory, widely used in strategic analysis, postulates that actors make decisions based on the maximization of their profits within a competitive system, rather than seeking consensus based on dialogue and cooperation. The Trump administration moves away from multilateralism and international cooperation, which are essential elements for global stability, in favor of a foreign policy based on confrontation, unpredictability and zero-sum negotiation.
From the early days of his administration, Trump’s foreign policy showed a tendency to unilateralism. The withdrawal of the US from key agreements, such as the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia and the withdrawal of the UN Human Rights Council, showed a rejection of the multilateral mechanisms that had traditionally been pillars of American diplomacy. In terms of game theory, these decisions can be interpreted as strategies of «credible threat» or «strategic signals», where the US sought to strengthen its negotiating position through acts of disruption.
The Trump administration is also being marked by a series of contradictory decisions that reflected internal chaos within its governance structure. In less than 100 days, the White House experienced multiple changes in its advisory team and a lack of consistency in international policy decisions. For example, while Trump advocated military withdrawal from Syria, his administration ordered air strikes in response to alleged chemical attacks by the Bashar al-Assad regime. This inconsistency reveals a foreign policy that did not respond to coherent principles of global governance, but to a transactional logic in which every decision was made on the basis of immediate benefits and not on a long-term strategy.
In this context, the growing influence of non-state actors and business figures such as Elon Musk in the sphere of US power underscores the erosion of traditional bureaucracy and institutionalized decision-making. The so-called “de-bureaucratization” of the government apparatus promised by Trump will favor the concentration of power in figures that did not necessarily represent the interests of the state as a whole, but their own economic and ideological agendas. For example, the case of Elon Musk, with his rise to a position of influence in both the technology industry and space and telecommunications policies, is an example of how American politics began to depend more on businessmen than diplomats or experts in international relations.
This trend towards a governance model based on improvisation and the influence of private actors weakened the role of the United States as guarantor of the hegemonic world order. In terms of game theory, this phenomenon can be interpreted as a change in the global power structure, in which the US no longer acts as a dominant player with clear strategies of deterrence and hegemony, as an actor whose lack of consistency creates opportunities for the emergence of a multipolar system. In this new order, regional powers such as China, Russia and the European Union have gained room for manoeuvre and have begun to fill the gap left by the US in key areas of trade, diplomacy and international security.
In conclusion, the international policy of Donald Trump, in his first and current term, not only marks a break with the multilateralist tradition of the United States, but also revealed a strategic approach based on the logic of game theory, where decisions were made on the basis of tactical advantages rather than a commitment to global stability. The confusion and lack of coherence in the Trump administration, coupled with the growing influence of private actors and the erosion of state bureaucracy, have accelerated the transition to a multipolar world where US leadership is no longer unquestionable.
In this context, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the rising influence of actors like Elon Musk show how the US has progressively abdicated its role as a global mediator, Leaving behind processes of pacification and weakening the international order that it once maintained. The lack of a coherent foreign policy is a real risk to global stability and has opened the door to the consolidation of new powers that now compete for geopolitical control among them Russia with its war in Ukraine and China with its huge influence global.
