20th January 2026
Demonstrations are growing across the United States
It would be easy to see the outcomes of the first year in office of Donald Trump’s second term as President of the United States as the rantings of an unhinged narcissist. While this may be a true reflection of the character of Trump as an individual the agenda for US imperialism is not just about Donald Trump.
Although the most highly weaponised, aggressive and interventionist nation in history, the US feels threatened by the rising economic power and influence of China, the potential for a resurgent capitalist Russia and the challenge to the supremacy of the dollar from the nations of the Global South, coalescing around the BRICS movement.
While developments in all of these areas are uneven, they nevertheless represent a rejection of the notion of US world leadership and are open to alternative ways to tackle political, economic and environmental concerns.
The BRICS countries certainly do not share common political or ideological objectives but generally have an interest in loosening the grip of the US in the international banking system and establishing fairer trade relationships.
Any expansionist ambitions the Russian ruling class harbour have been effectively hemmed in by the NATO encirclement over the past thirty years. Ukraine is the last piece in that jigsaw and one which Russia is seeking to avoid falling into place.
The endgame for the West is clearly to have a Russia compliant with the NATO alliance and a source of cheap labour and exploitable natural resources for the Western market. The real driver behind Trump and US imperialism’s belligerence over Greenland, for example, has little to do with the defence issues touted and much more to do with access to rare earth minerals for American companies to exploit.
China is regarded as the biggest threat by US imperialism, due to its obvious economic strength, its rich natural resources and its growing influence in the Global South, based upon its non-exploitative economic relationships. China’s military expenditure is paltry compare to the US and the Communist Party leadership are clearly reluctant to engage in the arms race the US would like to entice them into, at the expense of the wider economic benefits for the Chinese people.
The continued provocation to China, around the status of Taiwan, internationally recognised as part of China, is the potential flashpoint which the West may use in its attempts to undermine Chinese economic growth and international credibility.
While Trump has declared that the Western Hemisphere is the US’s to police, a licence to piracy, kidnap and invasion, the imperial ambitions of the US are by no means confined to its self styled ‘backyard’. The patrolling of the South China Seas through the AUKUS alliance is clearly a provocation to China. The fuelling of weapons to Israel, to prolong the genocide in Gaza, along with the bombing of Iran are clearly sending messages to the countries of the Middle East that US imperialism sees its own interests as being primary, above those of the people of the region.
The kidnapping of Venezuela’s President Maduro, the threats against Cuba, Colombia and Mexico, even the continued threat to annexe Canada, are all part of the US strategy of flexing its military and economic might in the hemisphere it regards as its own.
Trump 2.0 may be restrained by poor mid term election results in November but the forward path of US imperialism in the 21st century is well and truly established. It is unlikely that a few changes of Congressional seats or even a change of Presidency are going to alter that in the short term.
Resistance within the US is becoming more visible however. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) service shooting of civilian Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota recently has led to widespread protest. The election of New York Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, an avowed Democratic Socialist, is a step in the right direction. Resistance to the Trump administration’s attempts to overturn the gains of the Civil Rights Movement in the US is growing, while attacks on workers rights to organise and to collective bargaining are bringing more into struggle.
The first year of Trump 2.0 has certainly had many moments of concern, both domestically and internationally, but US imperialism cannot simply be allowed to get its own way and people are recognising this in US cities and across the globe. The fightback must be sustained and resistance built upon at every opportunity.
Avanti Populo 