According to the Munich Security Report 2026, the world is in an era of “wrecking ball politics” led by US President Donald Trump, and the international order that has flourished for decades is under unprecedented strain.
The annual report, released ahead of the Munich Security Conference, squarely described President Trump as the most powerful person to challenge existing rules and institutions, arguing that his approach risks dismantling long-standing alliances and norms.
“More than 80 years after construction began, the post-1945 U.S.-led international order is now being destroyed,” the report said.
The report names Trump as one of the most prominent “disruptors.”
At last year’s event, which annually gathers top security officials and academics, Vice President J.D. Vance shocked the audience by lambasting European leaders over censorship and immigration and claiming that the continent’s threats come from “within.”
Vance’s speech, then just weeks into the second Trump administration, set the tone for a year of turmoil, including punitive U.S. tariffs on close allies in Europe, threats of U.S. military action to retake Greenland territory from NATO ally Denmark, and deference to Russia over its illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The report also described Trump as “the most powerful figure wielding an ax to existing rules and institutions.”
His actions could create “a world shaped by transactional deals rather than principled cooperation,” the magazine said.
According to the report, critics fear that President Trump’s policies will “pave the way to a world that privileges the rich and powerful rather than the broader public who have hope for disruptive change.”
Opinion polls conducted for this report show that many people around the world are already concerned that such a thing is happening.
Research shows widespread skepticism about whether governments can truly solve problems such as the affordability crisis, rising inequality, declining upward mobility, and stagnant or declining living standards.
“Individual and collective feelings of helplessness and ruin are increasing,” the report said.
In France, 60% of respondents said their government’s policies would put future generations at a worse disadvantage, as did 53% in the UK and 51% in Germany. In the US, that number was 45%.
And surveys place much of the blame for that sense of doom on Trump.
When asked whether the US president’s policies are good for the world, more than half of respondents in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, Brazil, and South Africa said they somewhat or strongly disagree.
The Munich Security Conference will be held in the Bavarian city from Friday to Sunday. More than 50 heads of state and government are scheduled to attend, according to the event’s website.
But Trump won’t go. The United States will be represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and more than 50 members of Congress, said Wolfgang Issinger, the conference chairman, Reuters reported.
