When your country is falling from first place into second place your best course of action is to establish a world order that gives second place countries advantage. Bluntly, multilateralism is far better than isolationism. As China and India continue to rise the USA is destined to be 3rd place, at best; perhaps even 4th place behind Indonesia. I highly recommend this lecture by X. Kishore Mahbubani
"Has the West Lost It? Can Asia Save It?"