Ian Bremmer: Trump is a symptom of a dysfunctional "G-Zero world"

- YouTube

In a political environment plagued by instability and polarization, who is poised to benefit? 2025 has kicked the G-Zero world into high gear: a world characterized by a growing vacuum in global governance. The anti-establishment wave and anti-incumbency trend that swept major democracies this past year underscore the dramatic shift. President-elect Donald Trump is the leading symptom, in many ways, the most powerful beneficiary of the G-Zero, argues Eurasia Group founder and president Ian Bremmer during a GZERO livestream to discuss the 2025 Top Risks report. He says that America’s embrace of a more “transactional worldview,” indifference to rule of law, and focus on rule of jungle will play to Trump’s hand and agenda. Bremmer adds that a G-Zero world and “a consolidated America First are the same thing, but jut from different perspectives. G-Zero is what happens with everybody else, and America First is what happens with the Americans.” With a tipsy-turvy year ahead, the world will be watching how Trump will navigate this moment in time.

Take a deep dive with the panel in our full discussion, livestreamed on Jan. 6 here.

More from GZERO Media

President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands as they attend a joint press conference at the White House in Washington, DC, on Feb. 13, 2025.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

As promised, US President Donald Trump announced reciprocal tariffs on all American trading partners Thursday afternoon. Each country will be assessed individually, factoring in value-added taxes, foreign tariff rates, industry subsidies, regulations, and currency undervaluation to determine customized duty rates. Trump claimed, “It’s gonna make our country a fortune.”

Linda McMahon testifies before the Senate Health, Education, and Labor Committee during a nomination hearing as Secretary of Education in Washington, DC, USA, on Feb. 13, 2025.

Lenin Nolly/NurPhoto via Reuters

Linda McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, on Thursday began her Senate confirmation hearing to run the Department of Education, which Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency have vowed to shrink or shut down.

Join us via free livestream at the Energy Security Hub at BMW Pavilion Herbert Quandt at the Munich Security Conference and watch our panel on “Geopolitics of Energy Transition and Hydrogen Trade” in cooperation with the German Federal Office and H2-Diplo. The global shift to net zero is no longer just an environmental imperative – it’s reshaping international security and geo-economic dynamics. As new clean energy trade routes emerge, major economies are jockeying for clean industry leadership, navigating critical resource dependencies, supply chain resilience, and infrastructure security. Following this panel, starting at 18:30 (CET) / 12:30 (ET), don’t miss the opportunity to watch the closing keynote by William Chueh, director of Precourt Institute for Energy and associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University, on “Energy Transition: Speed & Scale.” For these and other forward-thinking panels and discussions in the next two days, register here.

Jess Frampton

From his threats to make Canada the 51st state, buy Greenland, reclaim the Panama Canal, and, almost implausibly, “take” the Gaza Strip, Trump isn’t hiding his imperial ambitions. In his inaugural address, he explicitly said he sees an America that “expands its territory.” Is he serious, and, if so, what does it mean for its closest neighbor and biggest partner, Canada? GZERO Publisher Evan Solomon weighs in.