Within hours of assuming office in January 2025, President Donald Trump signed executive orders withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate accord and World Health Organization. The following month, Washington exited the UN Human Rights Council and initiated reviews of commitments to UNESCO and other international bodies. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs issued in April violated World Trade Organization principles, marking systematic assault on multilateral frameworks.
While Trump’s actions accelerate institutional decline, they aren’t sole causes of weakening global governance. Rising domestic inequality resulting from hyperglobalization without worker protections has fueled anti-multilateral sentiment across nations. Most international organizations were established during the twentieth century, and inadequate reform leaves them bloated, outdated, and offering one-size-fits-all solutions for complex contemporary challenges. These institutions remain dominated by North American and European creators despite economic activity and political decision-making increasingly occurring in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
Regional Bodies Fill Global Governance Gaps
Regional organizations possess inherent advantages over global institutions. Proximity to problem sources enables quicker, more accurate diagnosis, mitigation, and prevention. Groups of neighboring countries demonstrate greater sensitivity and responsiveness to local realities, adapting global governance principles to regional contexts. Fewer participating countries reduces obstacles to collective action and veto opportunities. Regional institutions can rapidly correct course when strategies fail and experiment with novel solutions that international bodies consider too risky.
Regional organizations already facilitate critical cross-border trade and investment. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, signed November 2020 by Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and ASEAN members, represents the world’s largest free trade agreement. Since implementation in 2022, RCEP’s rules and tariff reductions have strengthened integration and optimized regional value chains. As Bangladesh, Chile, and Sri Lanka pursue membership, bloc trade and investment will likely expand.
Cross-Regional Trade Architecture
Different regions’ organizations increasingly cooperate with each other. In 2014, ASEAN established annual meetings with the Pacific Alliance—comprising Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru—to explore cooperation on sustainable development, digital and green transitions, support for small and medium firms, and people-to-people exchanges. This collaboration has generated innovative tourism initiatives and free trade agreements that could become templates for other partnerships.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), effective since 2018, includes 12 members across five continents reducing tariffs and trade barriers while establishing intellectual property, investment, financial services, environmental, and labor rights protections. From 2018 to 2021, despite COVID-19 disruption, trade among CPTPP members increased 5.5% overall and 13.2% among those without previous free trade agreements.
In fall 2025, 16 small and medium-sized states from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Pacific launched the Future of Investment and Trade Partnership promoting open and fair trade. Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister described the partnership’s flexible structure allowing member subsets to advance initiatives before broader adoption as enabling rapid innovation and opportunity seizure.
Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence Governance
UN efforts to promote ethical AI use and protect personal data focus on universal guidelines, but bureaucratic processes cannot match technological development pace. At regional levels, the EU enacted comprehensive, binding regulation through its 2024 AI Act. Other regional groups have advanced nonbinding agreements, declarations, or principles adaptable to rapid technological evolution that can inspire national legislation.
In 2020, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore signed the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, the first regulating digital trade and data flows, promoting interoperability, and establishing AI ethical standards. Updates have made rules more enforceable and added South Korea as member in 2024. ASEAN expects to sign similar pact in 2026 after two years of negotiations facilitating digital goods and services flow. Mercosur created a Digital Agenda Group in 2017 promoting free and secure digital market development.
If these regional bodies fulfill their plans, more efficient digital trade, safer cross-border data transfers, and higher digital system trust will follow. CPTPP should modernize e-commerce provisions established in 2015 that don’t address recent advances in e-payments, electronic invoicing, or government data transparency initiatives. Over time, regional frameworks can expand and converge toward globally agreed principles governing new technology and digital economy.
Regional Conflict Management Mechanisms
Regional institutions must expand roles managing global conflicts as traditional international organizations including the United Nations see funding decline and support wane. Southeast Asia demonstrates viable approaches through informal norms called the “ASEAN Way” promoting consensus building, noninterference, and voluntary cooperation that has largely prevented disputes from erupting. Indonesian mediation helped the Philippine government and Moro National Liberation Front sign peace agreements in 1996. Malaysia and Singapore peacefully resolved their Pedra Branca Island dispute through International Court of Justice arbitration in 2003.
Latin American organizations have helped resolve border disputes and maintain low regional tensions despite individual countries increasing military spending. The Union of South American Nations negotiated an end to months of Bolivian political unrest in 2008, provided platforms for addressing concerns about U.S. troop deployments to Colombian bases in 2009, and mediated Colombia-Venezuela talks during 2010 diplomatic disputes.
The African Union has invested heavily in peace and security, creating advisory bodies, peacekeeping forces, and mechanisms preventing conflicts and stabilizing postconflict environments. The AU’s Somalia peacekeeping mission has helped strengthen Somali forces’ territorial control and stabilize the country since launching in January 2025.
Nuclear Nonproliferation and Health Cooperation
Regional efforts can reduce nuclear threats. Latin America has led nonproliferation efforts: the 1967 Treaty of Tlatelolco establishing a nuclear-free zone became a model for similar agreements in Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific. In 1991, Brazil and Argentina established a bilateral agency that, with the International Atomic Energy Agency, oversees both countries’ civilian nuclear programs ensuring strict safety guidelines and exclusive nuclear energy use. Similar practices in East Asia could help contain emerging nuclear arms races.
Latin American countries have applied common health regulations, shared disease outbreak information, and exchanged medical aid during health crises since the nineteenth century. The Pan American Health Organization has fought disease, strengthened health systems, and responded to emergencies since 1902. In 1996, Mercosur convened regional forums and working groups harmonizing health policies and implementing international health regulations, facilitating joint investments on high-priority concerns, support for weaker health systems, and close collaboration with international bodies.
Africa has developed innovative health initiatives recently. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, created in 2017, has improved continental public health institutions’ capacity to detect, prevent, control, and respond to diseases. When COVID-19 erupted, the African Union and Africa CDC rapidly expanded health infrastructure, research, and information sharing. They launched a regionwide 2021 strategy making African public health systems more self-sufficient and raising the continent’s profile in international health governance.
Democracy, Human Rights, and Climate Action
Similar roles exist for regional groups advancing democracy, human rights, and migrant protections. In Africa, the AU monitors elections and has adopted agreements establishing democratic principles commitment, with countries often responding collectively to unconstitutional government changes. In Latin America, the 1948 American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and 1984 Cartagena Declaration on Refugees offer civil and political rights protections, including for women and indigenous populations, establishing generous asylum procedures.
Mercosur and the Andean Community have agreements allowing migrants to temporarily reside and work in member states. Although imperfect, regional human rights monitoring and measures facilitating cross-border movement fill gaps left by international bodies unable to provide adequate protections.
With international climate diplomacy delivering limited progress, regional organizations provide platforms for negotiation and policy coordination. Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden often lead implementation of ambitious carbon emission reduction policies and renewable energy transitions, with their Nordic Council of Ministers playing important roles aligning regional climate strategy. Mercosur hosts environment ministers’ meetings, and the Platform of Latin America and the Caribbean for Climate Action on Agriculture helps national agriculture ministries incorporate climate policies.
Challenges and Opportunities
International forums falter, but collective action remains necessary. Regional organizations provide recourse despite often falling short of aims, with internal disputes and government changes limiting effectiveness. ASEAN Way hasn’t always prevented national and regional disputes from disrupting peace: civil war broke out in Myanmar in 2021, Cambodian-Thai border disputes have escalated into military clashes, and intensifying U.S.-Chinese rivalry creates regional problems. However, stronger conflict prevention and mitigation mechanisms can help ASEAN manage conflicts when global bodies cannot.
Latin America requires more work. The Union of South American Nations helped resolve several regional and intrastate conflicts between 2008 and 2016, but infighting and failure to elect new secretary-general since 2017 resulted in key member withdrawals, rendering the bloc defunct. As Trump threatens Venezuela intervention and China increases economic and security influence across Latin America, the region needs ability to resolve conflicts, manage great-power rivalry, promote common policies, and strengthen international forum voices. This requires Latin American countries putting aside differences and supporting multilateral cooperation through functioning regional organizations.
Other regions face formidable challenges. The European Union contends with Ukraine war, immigration issues, political polarization, trade headwinds, and Trump attacks. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation rarely meets meaningfully. The African Union faces persistent crises including terrorism and civil wars plus significant regional economic integration hurdles. The Arab League and Gulf Cooperation Council suffer internal divisions and regional conflicts.
The Path Forward
Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement marks deliberate weakening of multilateral systems at times when global unity proves most critical. The United States joins Iran, Libya, and Yemen as the only countries not party to the agreement, sending troubling signals about American unreliability. Yet regional governance remains the best antidote for weakening multilateralism.
It represents an essential building block of global governance with long history supporting international cooperation. Since the Cold War’s end, regional institutions have expanded, and their roles facilitating trade, resolving conflicts, and developing shared standards have grown. Now they must support weakened global institutions and assume more responsibilities themselves. This shift will not only help sustain multilateralism but could improve on it by harnessing regional strengths and facilitating innovative, bottom-up solutions to the world’s most intractable problems.
Original analysis by Monica Herz and Selina Ho from Foreign Affairs. Republished with additional research and verification by ThinkTanksMonitor.
