President Donald Trump has gone from mocking Canada as “the 51st state” and demoting its prime minister to “governor,” to threatening navy invasion of Greenland, to siding with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin over Ukraine’s combat for freedom, to insane tariffs which are making a mockery of worldwide order.
Trump even stated he needs to promote allies nerfed variations of U.S. warplanes.
“We’d like to tone them down about 10 percent, which probably makes sense because someday maybe they’re not our allies, right,” he stated on March 21.
Simply think about how that was obtained by U.S. allies.
In brief, the US is, at greatest, an unreliable ally and, at worst, a world menace.
So it is smart that Europe has determined it received’t depend upon the US as a navy backstop for its safety, committing practically $900 billion to its large navy spending spree.
However Europe does wish to work with dedicated allies, so it’s pulling in Japan and South Korea whereas shunning the UK and the US. Is smart, proper?
The UK left Europe in its ill-fated Brexit gambit (although there’s at present work on a brand new partnership settlement between them), whereas the US is actually threatening navy motion towards NATO member Denmark in Trump’s bid to annex Greenland.
Moreover, the Trump administration threatened to dam the switch of U.S. elements for F-16s in the course of the president’s hissy match with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It’s commonplace in weapons contracts for a purchaser to get approval to switch weapons programs to 3rd nations.—nobody needs to see their weapons find yourself within the fingers of hostile nations.
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have a heated trade with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
But the mere menace is a problem to Europe’s sovereignty, significantly because the U.S. authorities has broadcasted that it now not shares Europe’s values.
Nobody is eager about working with a United States that may activate a dime relying on the whims of fool voters in Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, and the GOP is definitely not eager about stopping loopy despots from flying its banner.
Which ends up in no weapons offers for the US. And would you imagine that Trump is pissed?
In response to Reuters, U.S. officers instructed European allies that they need them to proceed buying U.S. arms, regardless of current strikes by the EU to restrict U.S. producers’ participation in weapons tenders.
And in a gathering on March 25, Secretary of State Marco Rubio instructed the overseas ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia that the US needs to proceed collaborating in EU international locations’ protection procurements.
Effectively, no shit the US needs to maintain collaborating—however that is the consequence of turning your again in your allies. Trump thinks he can bully the world into submission, however the world has different plans.
Canada is looking for tighter navy cooperation with the EU, whereas the EU is looking for nearer ties with Australia, New Zealand, and India. In the meantime, the US is making kissy faces at a pathetic Russia, now relegated to assault Ukraine with donkeys and golf carts.
Europe’s justified shunning of the U.S. arms business is already having penalties.
In response to the Washington Publish, a Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jet manufacturing line in Greenville, South Carolina, companies the export market and pumps $1.3 billion into the native economic system yearly.
Now Greenville County, which Trump handily received in 2024, is bracing for the fallout as U.S. allies name for boycotts towards U.S. weapons.
Maybe nothing foreshadows the financial penalties of Trump’s belligerence higher than the state of the U.S. inventory market.
Let’s begin with Lockheed Martin, which makes F-16 amongst different weapons:
In the meantime, that is German weapons producer Rheinmetall:
As ordinary, Trump has an uncanny potential to harm his personal supporters.