The entire worldwide trade order was created by the US throwing its weight around. Those cheap Chinese goods, Korea, Japan, the WTO, the poles of axis. Drug prices, intellectual property protections. All courtesy of the US. That order that made the US the richest country in the world, home to the most powerful companies in the world.
So the whole Trump narrative that you're regurgitating is a bit odd.
And it is already backfiring spectacularly, and is poised to get much worse. Those "big boy pants" turned out to have a smattering of urine and feces in them. Trump's ignorant, hap-hazard way of "negotiating" has alienated friends and foes, and made the world re-evaluate why it is playing the US agenda.
Another post noted that the whole thing has been unfair to low income earners in the US, as if the outrageous disparity in the US is really the result of those damn foreigners. Only that disparity has only gotten worse under Trump's ignorant policies.
It seems like they are forced to play the US agenda. Are they going to end their military protection agreements with the most powerful military in the world? Are they going to close access to the world largest market? If they want to have a nation in 20 years they likely will not stop playing the US agenda
"If they want to have a nation in 20 years they likely will not stop playing the US agenda"
What a strange claim. How are they going to lose their nation? The EU has a GDP 20x Russia's (not to mention having nuclear armed nations). Canada alone has a GDP 2x Russia. Any of these countries can fend off any imaginary assault, most of which are instigated by the US.
The largest market...wait, do you think the US is going to close its doors? Well say goodbye to Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft...well just go through every US company. GM sells more cars in China than they do in the US.
It's a very, very different world. US pull just isn't as strong as the post war world when the US was mighty and everyone else was rebuilding.
Leaving the EU takes a few years which exceeds your presidents attention span by a few years. Nobody would trust he’d honor an agreement for that long.
I think it’s unlikely Italy will actually leave but if it does it won’t be because of Trump. It probably depends on what happens to the UK and as the EU people know that, they aren’t likely to let the UK off easy.
USA will not be able to play this card for long. Trump already expressed doubts about whether USA would defend eastern EU countries. Trust is almost gone already, so USA is losing "benefits" what to offer to allies quite fast.
What would be the point to sell products to USA with huge tariff on top of it to the point that local products would be way cheaper? Nobody would buy it.
What's the point to expect partnerships in military with USA when for example South Korea is left cold without any discussions about it?
"Trump's ignorant, hap-hazard way of "negotiating" has alienated foes and made the world re-evaluate why it is playing the US agenda."
What's much worse is that he has allienated friends (specifically when they refuse to kiss his ring, but I digress) and mostly for no good reason at all.
The US squandered their advantage of having been respected as a (mostly) reliable partner to a definite CAN NOT BE TRUSTED! in not even two short years.
You may argue that who cares? "We're America, Bitch" [1] But I really don't see any sustainability and long term gains in the current model for the world in general and especially for America.
I’ll concede that Trump indeed doesn’t say nice things. But there is little point in understanding what he says because tomorrow he could just as well say the complete opposite. Most of it is just empty posturing anyway so there isn’t a lot to understand.
I think most countries are just trying to shield themselves from his damage until his term ends.
So the whole Trump narrative that you're regurgitating is a bit odd.
And it is already backfiring spectacularly, and is poised to get much worse. Those "big boy pants" turned out to have a smattering of urine and feces in them. Trump's ignorant, hap-hazard way of "negotiating" has alienated friends and foes, and made the world re-evaluate why it is playing the US agenda.
Another post noted that the whole thing has been unfair to low income earners in the US, as if the outrageous disparity in the US is really the result of those damn foreigners. Only that disparity has only gotten worse under Trump's ignorant policies.