Trump treats European allies as a cash cow
Not long ago, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was setting up the European allies to resist the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He illustrated the point that a higher diplomat, R. Nicholas Burns, recently summarized as the way the United States win the global competition for power and prosperity: "Be kind to your allies".President Trump clearly has a different vision. His antagonism towards Europe has been public for decades, seeing the allies as economic competitors and geopolitical parasites. And his decision on Thursday to impose controversial rates calculated to American partners, including Ukraine-but not Russia or North Korea bare his will to fracture a transatlantic alliance that has widely maintained peace in Europe for 80 years.In combination with the demand of Mr. Trump that NATO allie...