US president-elect Donald Trump announced that his first task on entering the White House would be to withdraw from the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. If the US moves toward isolationism, a host of nations will rise that want to replace the US.
The first nation that will try to do so will be China: the world’s most populous nation and second-largest economy. In such an event, Russia, militarily the second-most powerful nation in the world, would not be prepared to simply watch from the sidelines. Japan and Germany would also wait for an opportunity to pounce, in order to prevent China and Russia from achieving dominance in Europe and Asia.