The ever-changing face of US foreign policy
Published 01 July 2025
“Conflict is an inherent quality of international relations. Doesn’t make them less horrendous, but we should not think that the end of the world is nigh. The world order that seems to be threatened now was never uncontested … no world order has ever commanded consensus” says Bilahari Kausikan, former Ambassador-at-Large for Singapore.
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Bilahari Kausikan presents that journalists should stop sensationalizing conflicts like Gaza and Ukraine while ignoring long-term geopolitical and economic processes. He emphasizes that conflict is a constant in international relations and warns against portraying current crises as unprecedented or world-ending. While the war in Gaza will remain ‘regional,’ the real transformation is in Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, which are quietly restructuring their economies, societies, and religious foundations.
America is now shifting to the role of an ‘offshore balancer’ rather than a direct defender of its allies. Kausikan sees Trump not as an outlier, but as a true post-Cold War American president. Trump is a symptom of a broader trend of U.S. retrenchment and prioritization of domestic issues — echoed by presidents since Clinton. He doubts the long-term viability of Trump's reciprocal tariffs, suggesting a US-China deal is likely.
About the NPF International Trade Fellowship 2025
The National Press Foundation holds an annual International Trade Fellowship workshop for journalists, sponsored by the Hinrich Foundation. This year, the Foundations welcomed 25 Asia-based journalists at the Hinrich Foundation’s office in Singapore. The sessions, held in June, focused on a range of themes including global trade policy, the age of data, the macroeconomic outlook, climate change, Asia’s place in a fast-changing world order and more.
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