Don't Trust America!

Early in Donald Trump’s first term, Angela Merkel, then Germany’s Chancelor, saw the writing on the wall. After a NATO summit where the United States threatened to pull its support, and then after butting heads with Trump at a bruising G-7 meeting, she came to the following conclusion: “We Europeans truly have to take our fate into our own hands.” They could no longer count on or trust America. Her remark was disturbing yet prescient. Now we know that nobody can count on or trust the United States, at least not while Trump is president. Why?

The United States is the most powerful nation in the world. Figure 1 ranks the twenty most powerful military forces on earth based on data from Global Fire Power, a widely respected military-tracking website. The United States ranks number one. Figure 1 also ranks these countries in terms of their economic power measured by the size of their gross domestic product. The United States is again number one.

The problem is that on Trump’s watch, how the United States uses its power is unpredictable, often unlawful, and dangerous to the post-Second World War world order. That’s true even when it comes to our closest allies.

For example, since the Second World War, Denmark and the United States have been staunch allies. They cooperated economically. And the Danes knew that they could count on America for protection. Now they aren’t so sure. This year, for the first time, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service’s (FE) annual threat assessment warned that Russia and China aren’t the only external security threats Denmark needs to worry about. Now the United States under Donald Trump’s leadership is also a concern.

That’s because, as the Danish newspaper Politiken reported, “The U.S. is now using its economic and technological strength as a means of power, even against allies and partners.” According to the FE’s chief, Thomas Ahrenkiel, although the United States has been the guarantor of Danish and European security for generations, that’s now changed. When asked whether the United States is Denmark’s friend or enemy, Ahrenkiel hedged saying only that “that is a political question.”

Furthermore, Trump has said repeatedly that for security reasons the United States needs to take control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. Whether he wants to do that by negotiation or military force isn’t clear. He says nothing is off the table. But to that end he appointed a special envoy to Greenland and initiated bilateral meetings between the United States and Greenland, all without Denmark’s participation or consent. The Hill reported that the Danish foreign minister said this was “completely unacceptable.” The Danish prime minister demanded that Trump stop threatening to annex the territory.

It’s important to note that if Trump did move to annex Greenland by force, that would constitute an attack on a member of NATO whose members are obliged to defend against an attack on one of their own. This would pit one NATO member against others wrecking NATO and the post-war international security order. It would embolden Vladimir Putin, possibly encouraging him to move beyond Ukraine. China would pay very close attention.

Trump’s disregard for national sovereignty is obvious. In addition to threatening to take over Greenland he has ordered missile strikes in Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, and Nigeria. He has threatened to send troops into Mexico and Columbia to fight drug cartels. He wants to take control of the Panama Canal and possibly Cuba. He has warned that the United States is “locked and loaded” if Iran kills anti-regime protesters in Tehran.

And in his most extreme move yet, last week Trump ordered U.S. military forces to invade Venezuela, kidnap its president, and whisk him away to the United States to stand trial for drug trafficking. Trump now says the United States will “run” Venezuela indefinitely, which seems to mean among other things that American energy corporations will gain access to Venezuelan oil fields. In fact, it’s becoming clear that oil, not drug trafficking, was the real motivation for the invasion. It’s worth noting that Trump wants Greenland’s rare earth minerals just like he wants Venezuelan oil.

Shortly after the Venezuelan invasion, the wife of Trump’s Homeland Security Advisor posted on X, the social media website, a map of Greenland covered by an American flag. The caption read “SOON.” Neither the Danes nor the Greenlanders were amused. Reuters reported that an overwhelming majority (85%) of Greenlanders say they do not want to become part of the United States and nearly half (45%) view Trump’s interest in Greenland as a serious threat.

The forcible annexation of Greenland would fly in the face of international law just like the Venezuelan invasion did. The invasion also violated the U.S. Constitution insofar as Congress is supposed to be consulted before military action like this is taken.

Trump couldn’t care less. When asked on Fox News about the Democrats’ objections to the invasion he dismissed the constitutional implications out of hand saying this: “They [Democrats] shouldn’t say ‘Oh, gee, maybe it’s not constitutional.’ You know the same old stuff that we’ve been hearing for years and years and years.” The problem, of course, is that it isn’t constitutional! And it does violate international law! Yet Congress sits on its hands and does nothing about it.

The Venezuelan invasion and threats to Greenland harken back to an earlier era of American imperialism where the United States flexed its muscles abroad to secure natural resources and compliant foreign regimes.

The point is that things are even worse than what Angela Merkel foresaw a decade ago. Neither friends nor foes can count on the United States to be predictable, trustworthy, or lawabiding anymore. The United States has shown that it is willing to throw its military and economic weight around wherever and whenever it wants with grave consequences. That’s why, at least while Trump’s in office, the Danes are right to worry. The rest of the world should worry too.

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