Which of the following would not illustrate how the united states sought to expand its power in the world?
1. annexation of hawaii
2. spanish-american war
3. panama canal
4. trustbusting

The correct answer is 4. Trustbusting is not a form in which the United States sought to expand its power in the world.

Explanation:

Trustbusting was not a way of expanding the United States into new territories, but a way of protecting the country's economic capacity and competition between different companies, prohibiting the creation of monopolies and the indiscriminate accumulation of power by entrepreneurs private individuals.

On the contrary, both the annexation of Hawaii, the Spanish-American War and the creation of the Panama Canal did constitute forms of expansion of economic and territorial power of the United States, since in the three cases the United States acquired new territories, which gave it greater strategic power and greater economic income.