Fed up with Donald Trump? I am, you are, and after his threats to annex Greenland, and the reckless attack on Iran, so are most European governments. But having made ourselves dependent on the US for strategic defence enablers such as satellite communications, nuclear weapons and intelligence, Europeans seem collectively powerless.
The overall Trump strategy is for the US to borrow its way to prosperity while forcing the rest of the developed world to lend, at knockdown interest rates, using economic coercion – tariffs and trade distortions – together with threats to pull support for Nato.
Meanwhile, Trump is systematically destabilising the global economy in ways that benefit the US: triggering the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is, as Trump stated openly, more of a problem for India, China and south-east Asia than it is for America.
European states are capable of being…
