U.S. in 2025: 24% of global GDP, 750 military bases, and leadership in technology and culture sustain its global influence

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once said, “We are the indispensable nation,” referring to the USA. The late journalist Carlos Alberto Montaner commissioned me to write a book with this title. His idea was that a book was needed to inform the world about the unique contributions of the USA to the world.

He thought that all 174 embassies/consulates and the other 98 free-standing consulates around the world would want to gift the book to VIPs and others. He also thought that the U.S. government would want to publicize and sell the book worldwide, as recently the State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs had been established in the wake of 9/11.

Once the manuscript had been written, Montaner commissioned Víctor Manuel Rocha, a Colombian-born U.S. diplomat, former U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia, among other high posts, such as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Dominican Republic, Chargé d’affaires in Argentina, and Political-Military Affairs Officer at the U.S. embassy in Honduras.

Rocha had retired from a stellar 40-year career in diplomacy and was now a consultant housed at a high-rise office tower in downtown Miami overlooking Biscayne Bay and Miami Beach beyond. Having lunch with Montaner, I asked him who had suggested that Argentines and Uruguayans be allowed to come to the U.S. without requiring a visa, and he replied, “It was me, and they are all over there,” pointing to Miami Beach.

Rocha seemed to be the ideal candidate to sell the project. Well, Rocha is currently in prison, convicted of working for the Cuban government for all those 40 years, a true believer.

The book was never published.

No wonder Montaner told me that “the U.S. is not interested in blowing its own horn,” or so Rocha explained.

Regardless, there is some truth in that statement. I have tried for six decades to figure out the American ethos. I have been living in the U.S. since 1961. I was part of Operation Peter Pan, whereby 14,048 unaccompanied children landed in the U.S., sent by their parents to avoid Communist indoctrination.

I contend that it is not easy to figure the U.S. out. And I do think Americans are too busy with their own life projects to engage in apologetics about their system of government. They are proud of it, but not to the extent of sending ideological missionaries out into the world, at least not consciously.

In this essay I will illustrate the “missionary” activities that the USA carries out around the world not giving it a second thought. Coca-Cola would be an example, it is sold everywhere, bottled locally, and carrying its refreshing message in the first, second and third worlds. Procter and Gamble exports Tide detergent to 56 countries.

In the U.S., or as Americans call it, “America,” the phrase “American exceptionalism” is thrown around, as are other phrases such as “the American Dream,” with different definitions. I will let the reader determine if any of these phrases hit the mark, as both the purpose of the book and this essay is to lay down information that one normally does not ponder, especially as we live out our life projects in a land that has so many opportunities that it can be bewildering.

Not only do people have the right to innovate and create garage-launched mega businesses such as Apple, Facebook, or Microsoft, but even the common person has so many avenues to explore in travel, entertainment, family life and education that it is easy for me to excuse a certain amount of American “provincialism” even from the phrase of calling the country America, to the exclusion of twenty country south of the border that consider themselves equally “American”.

Consider that from St. Louis, Missouri, you can travel in any direction for days and still be in the same country, speaking English. By the way, I have traveled by car across the country listening to Spanish-language radio. The USA is the most international country while still provincial in its outlook. Hardly any country in the world has more experience incorporating immigrants than the U.S.

Italians and Irish are equally at home in the U.S. today, and what used to be called “Spanish people” are now Latinos (not Latinx) or Hispanics, all completely integrated in a merit-based military as well.

The relationships between the USA and the huge diasporas within its borders such as the Indian, Korean, Iranian, Arab, Filipino, Mexican and Caribbean ones is one of the most interesting facets of any description of the good ole USA. These diasporas cause the U.S. to be the hub for travel to and from the old country.

Members of these diasporas are not discriminated against in large corporations where merit is the password. And when these diasporas branch out in their entrepreneurial bursts nothing holds them back. There is a Korean Dry Cleaners Association, Indian motels dot the land, Thai restaurants do sushi, Cuban Roberto Goizueta headed up Coca-Cola, the Iranian diaspora in Los Angeles is impressive for its success.

The notorious lack of international geographical awareness among Americans is not due to a lack of trying. Having worked for 38 years in the textbook business, I can attest to the fact that U.S. publishers employ the best scholarship available, and use the most fabulous illustrations to get American children to be aware of the world outside the USA, so its not for lack of trying, it is just not in the American DNA, but that does not mean that this is not changing.

Next year, two events will almost equally take the attention of the US public, the World Cup and the 250^th anniversary of the USA. A few decades ago, drinking wine and paying attention to soccer were unheard of in the USA, as the introduction of the metric system was failing spectacularly in the 1970s.

Let’s dive into this fascinating analysis now that the BRICS nations, led by India and China, seem to be challenging American hegemony with their combined 3 billion population.

What is the Specific Weight of the USA in the World?

GDP Share of World GDP: The U.S. accounts for roughly 24–25% of global GDP, making it the largest single economy in the world. Yet the USA has only 4% of the world’s population, standing at 347 million people in 2025.

The dollar is the reserve currency of the world: The U.S. dollar is used in over 80% of international transactions and held as the primary reserve currency by central banks worldwide. About 59% of global reserves are held in USD.

Foreign Direct Investment: U.S. multinational corporations are among the most active globally. Recent trends show a shift in U.S. FDI away from China towards countries like Mexico, India, and Vietnam, reflecting strategic realignments.

President Donald J. Trump, in his first year of his second term, instituted an aggressive policy to incentivize foreign direct investment into the USA or the payment of tariffs for imports into the USA. More than $214 billion have been collected in tariffs as of this writing and many countries have invested in the US such as Saudi Arabia ($800 B), the United Arab Emirates ($1.4 T) and Qatar in the Middle East and Japan and South Korea in Asia have pledge a total of $2.8 T, Also Apple, Nvidia, SoftBank-OpenAI-Oracle/Stargate, IBM, Micron Technology, Johnson and Johnson, AstraZeneca, Roche, Amazon and Hyundai have pledge huge US investments.

Pax Americana is Pax Trumpiana, Peace Through Strength

Peace through strength was the motto of President Ronald Reagan. President Trump has taken to heart this motto following the Great Seal of the United States where an eagle holds 13 arrows on one talon and an olive branch on the other.

War Department Spending: The U.S. spends more the military than any other country—over $900 billion annually, almost 40% of world spending, which is more than the next 10 countries combined. The U.S. is also a key member of NATO and ASEAN among many other international military coalitions.

Global Military Presence: It maintains hundreds of military bases across the globe and leads key alliances like NATO, giving the US unmatched strategic reach.As of 2025, the United States operates approximately 128 military bases across 49 countries and U.S. overseas territories with a total global presence of around 750 bases, including smaller installations and facilities. Host countries include Japan: 120 bases; Germany: 119 bases; South Korea: 73 bases; Guam: 54 bases; Italy: 44 bases; United Kingdom: 25 bases; Puerto Rico: 34 installations; Turkey: 13 bases; Bahrain: 12 bases; Belgium: 11 bases. The U.S. spends over $70 billion annually to maintain its overseas military infrastructure.

American Lakes

The Pacific Ocean is an American lake considering the arc formed by Alaska’s Aleutian Islands to the north, the Hawaiian Islands to the South, American Samoa to the Southwest, Guam and the Mariana Islands to the West in addition to smaller islands such as Wake and Midway, all U.S. territories in addition to U.S. bases in Okinawa and mainland Japan.

The Caribbean Sea is an American lake considering the U.S. Naval presence in Key West, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands plus bases in Panama and in Guantánamo, Cuba. The U.S. effectively projects power in this area as can be evidenced by the flotilla currently off Venezuela.

The Mediterranean Sea is an American lake considering U.S. bases in Spain, Italy and all the way to its other NATO allies in Gibraltar, Malta, Greece and Turkey and its special relationship with Israel.

And talking about special relationships, the US can always count on the UK which always supports the American military with its own. Britain thus becomes a huge aircraft carrier parked at the doorstep of Europe.

Nuclear Triad: The U.S. maintains global deterrence by means of nuclear-powered submarines, surface Navy vessels laden with missiles, as well as land-based missiles in hardened silos and nuclear-armed aircraft that can reach any target in the world featuring stealth.

The Space Force: President Trump had the prescient idea to house this new military organization within the U.S. Air Force in charge of cyberspace and outer space. Together with the military applications deriving from NASA, the U.S. has the literal high ground in future conflicts.

Military Intelligence: The U.S. intelligence community, encompassing 16 agencies, provides accurate signal and human intelligence together with Israel and the Five Eyes Intelligence Agencies (US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand).

The Internet, the Pentagon’s gift to the world

In the 1960s, the U.S. Department of Defense funded research to create a communication system that could survive a nuclear attack. In 1969, the first successful message was sent over ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet, between UCLA and Stanford.

U.S. Inventions

Not only were the Internet and the World Wide Web U.S. inventions, but the U.S. had a big hand in the invention and rollout of radio and television as well. Some of the more influential inventions include: the light bulb, the airplane, and mobile phones.  Additionally, the suspension bridge, potato chips, condensed milk, photographic film, the phonograph, the skyscraper, traffic lights, the microwave oven, credit cards, disposable diapers, nuclear submarine, nuclear weapons, the integrated circuit, laser, LED lighting, Kevlar, fiber optic cable, the PC, the email, moon travel, the space shuttle, the chocolate chip cookie, frozen food, canned food, nylon stocking and pantyhose.

President Donald J. Trump solved the intractable problem of the Iranian nuclear threat with combined air and naval power together with the State of Israel. He also dismantled ISIS in three weeks during his first administration and is currently involved in solving another intractable problem, the flow of narcotics into the U.S. from Venezuela.

Diplomatic Power

Global Leadership: The U.S. plays a central role in international institutions being the main contributor and host to the UN (permanent seat in Security Council), IMF, the World Bank and a myriad other international organizations such as the Organization of American States.

President Donald J. Trump: Achieved eight peace treaties in the first ten months of 2025. His crowning achievement is the Israel-Hamas Peace Treaty that builds on the Abraham Accords of his previous administration. He has also worked tirelessly to bring peace between Russia and Ukraine.  In his previous administration, he endeavored to tackle the problem of North Korea’s nuclear arms.

The Nobel Peace Prize is underwhelming at this point.

U.S. Nobel Prize Winners

The United States has produced over 400 Nobel Prize winners across all categories, making it the most awarded country in Nobel history. These laureates span fields such as Peace, Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, and Economics. Many others, like Albert Einstein, Nobel in Physics, 1921, although not American-born, have lived and worked in the U.S.

US Soft Power

American culture, media, and technology companies

The magnificent seven U.S. tech giants, have the following market capitalization: Apple $3.66 trillion, Microsoft $3.15 T, Amazon $2.33 T, Google (Alphabet) $2.38 T, NVIDIA $3.43 T, Facebook (Meta) $1.56 T, Tesla $1.26 T with a total of $17 T represent 35% of the U.S. stock market. These companies ensure that in the emerging Artificial Intelligence wave the U.S. will be the leading nation, although challenged by China and others.

Hollywood Films and Streaming

The U.S. film studios have dominated the global scene for decades. It has greatly contributed to the growth of English as the lingua franca of the world. Although the U.S. produces over 500 feature films a year, many of which go directly to Netflix, Hollywood has more influence than the 2,500 put out by Bollywood (India) or China’s 800 per year. Netflix is itself an Amazing American influence spreader. The cultural influence of Disney, the house that Mickey built, along with MGM, Paramount, and others, is at a different level from any other.

Cable TV

Outfits like CNN compete with the BBC for world audiences. Fox and other American companies also have large audiences abroad. Anywhere you go in the world, you can catch the Discovery Channel or the National Geographic Channel, just to name a few.

American Music

American genres such as jazz and rock and roll have dominated for decades, while new genres are generated almost continually. Famous singers such as Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole were followed by Elvis Presley and today, Taylor Swift. All of these have sold millions of records and have held enormous concerts worldwide, becoming household celebrities. Today, companies like Spotify spread American music competing with FM radio as the leading vector of U.S. music abroad.

American Sports

Americans invented baseball and basketball. The MLB and the NBA are worldwide influencers. Baseball was carried to Mexico, Panama, and the Caribbean and later to Japan and Korea. The games are carried out in scores of countries. Even American football NFL games are carried by Mexican TV stations, in addition, of course, to cable TV. Americans also came up with volleyball and, most recently, skateboarding, snowboarding, and pickleball, and Native Americans played Lacrosse, which is a popular college sport. Additionally, American teams are very successful in the NHL, and although hockey is a Canadian sport, the Florida Panthers have won two consecutive Stanley Cups in the last two seasons!

Americans are notorious for the Gold Rush in the Olympic Games. The U.S. has won 1,117 gold medals in these games. The U.S. will hold these games in 2028, and the athletic prowess of American youth will once again be evident around the world. The U.S. holds its own both in the Winter and the Summer Games.

Influencers on the Internet and Social Media

American influencers and podcasters lead the way in promoting their ideas now without regards to geographical distance, time zones, or even language, as automatic translation is now prevalent due to AI. The leading world social media providers are American: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, X, Truth Social. Even the Chinese TikTok will now be independently housed in the U.S. And the greatest search engines, Google and Bing are both American.

Costco and Walmart

These two grocery/department store giants have spread internationally. Costco has stores in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, China, France, Iceland, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK, and other countries. Walmart/Sam’s Club has stores in 19 countries, and in Mexico operates under the banners of Superama and Bodega Aurrerá.

Fast Food and Lifestyle

Brands like McDonald’s, Starbucks, and KFC are found worldwide, symbolizing American consumer culture.

Education

Over a million international students attend U.S. universities annually. Institutions like Harvard, MIT, and Stanford are global magnets for talent. The American university system of Ph. D.s, master’s degrees, and credit hours, with emphasis on writing research papers and publishing in peer-reviewed journals, has taken hold throughout the world, replacing rote learning and the regurgitation of notes taken in lectures. A Visual Capitalist article from July 2024 places 36 American universities in the top 100 in the world. Additionally, international schools in English with American textbooks and curricula dot the world. The Department of War has its own public school system for American troops stationed abroad.

Technological Leadership

Innovation Hubs

Companies like Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Tesla lead in AI, software, and hardware development.

Digital Infrastructure

American platforms (e.g., WordPress, Meta, YouTube) shape how the world communicates and consumes information.

American Radio, TV, and Internet Abroad

American pastors such as Billy Graham have taken the Gospel all over the world featuring American Revivals, the old-fashioned tent meetings where the audience is asked to accept Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior. Recently the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA has broken through internationally with its mix of civics and religion never amalgamated to this extent before.

The radio waves, AM, FM and short wave have for decades been used by American pastors to carry out their sermons and Bible studies. All these technologies have now migrated to the World Wide Web.

Radio Free Europe, Radio Martí, Radio Free Asia, and the Voice of America have been active for decades broadcasting into captive nations such as Eastern Europe and Cuba. But their message is so objective as not to go near anything that may sound like propaganda. Therefore, they can have a message that sails so far away from controversies as to become milk toast.

The recent reshuffling of these stations as part of USAID brings us to the proposition that the U.S. does try to exert influence through aid, now to be housed inside the State Department, but the monies spent do not directly deal with a philosophical defense of the American system, although indirectly they do, and we listed them as direct US influence.

And a secular missionary organization is the U.S. Peace Corps, funded by the U.S. government which is present in 77 countries, and is an interesting parenthesis at a time in the 1960s when the U.S. under President Kennedy did try to play a direct role in what is called “soft power” with initiatives such as the Alliance for Progress in Hispanic America and of course the occupation of Germany and the Marshall Plan and the occupation of Japan and post-WWII Constitution dictated by Gen. McArthur.

US Civic Organizations

American organizations such as Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs, and Kiwanis Clubs are leading American civic organizations with significant international presence, as are the Boy and Girl Scouts, which, although not found in the USA, have significant US influence. The American Red Cross, affiliated with the International Red Cross also plays a critical role in providing international aid in many countries.

US Missionaries

From the U.S., missionaries, mainly Christian, go out into the world. From right-wing Mormons (the most American of denominations) to leftist Roman Catholic Maryknoll Fathers, Brothers and Sisters founded in Ossining, New York, the role of the USA in spreading the Christian message rivals the historic role that Europe played in the spread of this faith. And the Knights of Columbus became the main American answer to Freemasonry, the latter also strong in the U.S.A. Many Roman Catholic orders home-based in Europe but with a strong presence in the USA, make abundant contributions in money and talent to worldwide missions. American Catholics are strong contributors to foreign missionary work.

The joke used to be “Is the Pope Catholic?” Well, even the Pope is American now!

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, though not considered Christian, rival the Mormons as the most American of denominations. They have a strong footprint worldwide.

Mainstream Protestant denominations, in addition to modern-day Evangelicals and Pentecostals, are prolific missionaries. The point is that, like bees, these missionaries carry American culture with them as a byproduct, thus spreading USA influence as they carry out their work. The Salvation Army and the YMCA need to be counted among influential religious initiatives founded in the U.S., along with Habitat for Humanity, which, although secular, was founded by Southern Baptist U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

The road has not been a one-way street. Evangelical Spanish-language congregations, along with Korean and others, are today widespread from coast to coast in the USA.

The special connection of the American Jewish community in support of Israel, although not strictly missionary, should not be overlooked in this regard. American influence in Israel and vice versa is obvious.

The 20^th century has been called the American Century. Some seemed to think that the 21^st century would be owned by China. In the 1970s, the speculation was that Japan would take over as the leading economy in the world. Those were the days when a Global Ice Age was expected rather than Global Warming. Well, adapting Mark Twain’s quote from 1897, “The report of my death was an exaggeration,” it seems to me that the 21^st century will continue to be another American century, making this nation as indispensable as ever as it celebrates its 250^th anniversary!