🇺🇸 Trump is treating American allies like tourists at an airport: maximize what you can extract now, because tomorrow’s relationship is somebody else’s problem. The recent trade fight with Canada illustrates the approach. Despite nearly $900 billion in annual bilateral trade and deeply integrated energy, automotive and manufacturing supply chains, Washington has imposed new tariffs, Canada has retaliated, and uncertainty over the future of North American trade has returned. Trump’s argument is straightforward: America possesses enormous economic leverage, so use it to extract better terms now, greater access for American businesses, more purchases of American products and greater allied defense spending. But that is not how successful long-term businesses usually operate. A major global brand doesn’t maximize its profit on every individual sale. It maximizes the lifetime value of the customer. Sometimes that means razor-thin margins. Sometimes it means accepting a small loss because reliability, scale and loyalty make the relationship considerably more valuable over decades. American alliances have historically worked in much the same way. Washington has accepted costs and compromises in exchange for something much larger: military bases, intelligence sharing, integrated supply chains, diplomatic support and countries willing to build their security systems around the U.S. Canada is a particularly striking example. The two countries effectively share parts of the same industrial base, exchange enormous quantities of energy and jointly defend North American airspace through NORAD. You can squeeze Canada for another concession today. But if Ottawa responds by diversifying trade, finding alternative suppliers and reducing its dependence on Washington, America may lose something considerably harder to replace than trade income. The same applies across Europe and Asia. Allies do not need to abandon the U.S for American influence to decline. They simply need to stop assuming it will always be there on predictable terms. Once that happens, hedging becomes rational: more independent defense, alternative supply chains, different trading partners and less reliance on Washington. Trump’s approach could therefore win individual negotiations while weakening the network that gives the U.S influence far beyond its own borders. An airport shop can squeeze a tourist because it may never see them again. A superpower doesn’t have that luxury. It needs the same countries to come back tomorrow. Writer: Mhedi