THE Trump administration has escalated American imperialism across the economic, institutional, and military domains. What started as a trade war and open hostility towards international institutions has shifted into military adventurism. Political scientist John Mearsheimer notes that the US Department of War carried out seven military operations within Trump’s first year in power. The latest example is the violent attack on Venezuelan soil and the extraterritorial abduction of Nicolás Maduro, a sitting head of state. These actions follow a clear pattern and show outright disregard for international norms.

American imperialism is not new. Since World War II and the so-called War on Terror, the United States has orchestrated more than 70 regime changes, as documented by economist Jeffrey D Sachs. Both Republican and Democratic administrations drove this record. Many interventions bypassed the United Nations and, at times, even the US Congress. Trump intensified unilateral military force to advance US interests.

There are three defining features of Trump’s imperial strategy as follows.

Narco-terrorism as a new justification for military intervention

Every intervention needs a narrative. After 9/11, the US framed its campaign as the “war on terror,” targeting Islamist groups and regimes accused of protecting them. That narrative enabled regime change across the Middle East. 

Under Trump, the justification shifted to drugs. His administration linked Venezuela to the US narcotics crisis and claimed Venezuela was exporting illicit drugs into American communities. Many of these claims lack credible evidence. Iraq also had no “Weapon of Massive Destruction (WMD)”. Venezuela is not the primary source of cocaine to the US. 

Authoritarian leaders often use “crime eradication” to justify violence against indiscriminate targets, often civilians and for broader political goals. Rodrigo Duterte did this in the Philippines under the “war on drugs” and now faces International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecution for crimes against humanity. Even if Maduro profited from drug money, that still does not justify military intervention. 

If the aim were truly to dismantle organised crime, the approach would rely on evidence, rule of law, and cooperation between states and law enforcement. Yet the US sends mixed signals: it pardoned a Honduran ex-president convicted of drug crimes and lifted sanctions on Myanmar junta cronies waging war on their own people and protecting scam and drug cartels. 

The drug narrative is a cover. The real motive is oil. The US moved quickly after the intervention to expand plans to dominate Venezuelan oil.

Short-term invasion, no peacebuilding

Trump’s imperialism rejects long-term military entanglements. He criticised the “waste” of US resources in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria — not because he opposed war on principle, but because he prioritised cost efficiency. He instead favours swift, targeted military intervention, as seen in the seven operations mentioned earlier, while minimising American sacrifice.

In Venezuela, the US launched airstrikes, abducted Nicolás Maduro, and then leveraged its influence over the successor government to push the surrender of oil assets to American corporations.

The administration treats peacebuilding as irrelevant — an expensive distraction. It gutted the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), withdrew from the World Health Organisation (WHO), and cut funding for other United Nations (UN) agencies. These moves signal rejection of the US’ own “benevolent” soft-power instruments that have supported long-term peacebuilding globally.

Trump also turns peace into performance. During his visit to Malaysia, he claimed he brokered a “peace deal” between Thailand and Cambodia at a signing ceremony at Asean Summit last year. Yet tensions between the two countries later worsened, reinforcing the reality that this administration neglects sustained peacebuilding. Peace requires long-term work: policies and programmes that rebuild community trust and deliver credible guarantees of peace and security.

America and Israel alliance emboldened 

Trump cemented America’s overt alliance with Israel. After the Oct 7(, 2023) attack, even right-wing influencers like Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson began highlighting the reality of US–Israel ties — especially in relation to the genocide in Gaza, weapons supply, and the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on US domestic politics.

In 2025, Israel continued unilateral military operations that have killed at least 67,000 Palestinians, while also expanding assassinations targeting political figures it labels as enemies, including in Lebanon, Qatar, and Iran. Isn’t what happened in Venezuela a repeat of the same “playbook” — the use of unilateral force against another sovereign state?

Israel’s intensified actions against Iran also received US support: Netanyahu’s extremist government claimed Iran possessed nuclear weapons; the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) rejected that claim; yet the US still sent bunker-buster bombs that struck Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

Instead of acting to restrain Netanyahu — a war criminal wanted by the ICC — the US imposed sanctions on UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Paola Albanese for presenting valid findings on the involvement of the US government and companies in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. These sanctions have, in turn, placed Albanese under political and financial pressure simply for carrying out her duties. 

The Trump administration today has revived the logic of the Monroe Doctrine to justify a new face of US imperialism and to strengthen its alliance with the state of Israel. Europe, meanwhile, has failed to respond firmly because it cannot see the US as a security threat — one it has long assumed comes only from Russia and China. The US threat to take Greenland — including by military force — has intensified Europe’s security dilemma and could break Nato as a collective defence bloc.

For the Global South, the threat is more immediate. US tariff wars undermine rules-based trade and pressure smaller states to comply. More dangerously, unilateral military actions threaten sovereignty — the very principle international norms exist to protect. 

The international community — North and South — must now defend and reform international institutions before great powers hollow them out. Since World War II, the UN system has delivered real gains in peace and security, human rights, public health and climate. 

Its weakness comes from big-power sabotage: veto abuse, bypassing UN dialogue processes, and employing unilateral military actions. The world must abolish veto power to ensure equality among all members and strengthen the European and Global South alliance so that the international community can genuinely restrain aggressive, malicious great military powers like the US.

Aizat Shamsuddin is the founder of the Initiative to Promote Tolerance and Prevent Violence (INITIATE.MY). He is also a former staff member of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).