Trump administration's 'hard power' approach erodes US soft power

The Trump administration has fundamentally altered the United States' foreign policy narrative, moving away from showcasing its successes to embracing confrontation and threats. This strategic shift has significantly eroded America's traditional "soft power," according to analysis drawing on insights from figures like Harvard professor Stephen Walt.

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Trump administration only has faith in America's hard power and harbors contempt for what Nye called soft power.

Financial and diplomatic shifts are evident in reduced funding for key agencies such as USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy. Concurrently, policies like high tariffs on trade partners are pushing nations, particularly in Southeast Asia, closer to China. A 2025 ECFR/Oxford survey revealed that a mere 16 percent of citizens in ten European countries view the U.S. as an ally, with a larger percentage considering it a rival or enemy, indicating a genuine ideological mistrust of American institutions.

Walt argues that the administration's approach prioritizes "hard power" and displays a contempt for "soft power," characterized by a lack of effort to camouflage its use of influence. This strategy appears almost performative, with the administration seemingly deriving satisfaction from breaking established norms. The core of this new approach, as outlined in the administration's national security strategy, is to "cultivate resistance" against perceived negative developments in Europe, such as migration and declining birth rates, framing them as civilizational threats.

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The goal is to intimidate rather than convince.

This represents a stark departure from the traditional U.S. message of encouraging other nations to emulate its democratic model. Instead, the current strategy seems aimed at fostering alignment with specific movements within other countries that mirror the administration's own ideology. However, the effectiveness of this new approach remains uncertain, as the dismantling of established channels of influence has yielded visible consequences, while the new methods have yet to demonstrate significant results.

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cultivate resistance against Europe's current development, described as threatened by 'civilizational annihilation' through migration, declining birth rates, and lost sovereignty to Brussels.