From US-led rules-based order to multipolar international law

In January, Canada’s PM Mark Carney declared the end of the rules-based order. It was a remarkable speech but, in one respect, flawed. US unilateralism didn’t start with President Trump. It had soared in the 1980s. IN his seminal speech at Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, perhaps the ultimate liberal insider, declared the demise of the rules-based international order, ushering in a new period of might-based diplomacy. But there are cracks in this narrative. The US-led rules-based order did not end in Davos in 2025. It has been fiction since the 1970s. The difference with the Trump administration is…