This coronavirus pandemic, paired with the economic recession and social insecurity that goes with it, has created room for a global power shift by exposing the fragile state of the West and the strained nature of the transatlantic alliance. The EU’s initial inability to respond to the unprecedented crisis also underscores the bloc’s major limitations, while China has bounced back confidently after succumbing to the crisis first. Meanwhile, the US continues to withdraw from its former position of global leadership and is mired by its own massive internal upheavals, and Russia continues to build its capacity for cyberwarfare. As nations and multilateral organisations respond to COVID-19, we must anticipate this new reality and ask tough questions concerning new world orders, emerging forms of multilateralism, and opportunities for renewed dialogue between progressives globally.