What Trump forgets is that what’s helped make America great are its friends; friends who back it in war as well as in peace
We now see Donald Trump’s plan to Make America Great Again can mean Make Australia Poorer, or more in China’s grip.
Andrew Bolt
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Donald Trump slapping tariffs on our steel and aluminium is spitting in the face of a friend.
We now know what having Australia as an ally matters to this US President.
We’ve fought in many American wars – in Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Afghanistan and Iraq – yet Trump still hit us with 25 per cent tariffs in what our Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, correctly said was “not the way to treat a friend and partner”.
Trump wouldn’t even take our Prime Minister’s calls.
Have our politicians realised what this means for our military defence?
We must now spend a lot more to defend ourselves.
True, Trump’s tariffs will hurt Americans more than us.
The US is unlikely to stop buying our aluminium and steel, at least in the short term.
Americans must just pay more for them.
No wonder the US stock market – the benchmark S&P 500 – has fallen 8 per cent in a month as Trump imposes tariffs on friends and rivals alike.
Especially friends.
Trump’s plan is to Make America Great Again by taxing imports to get America to build more of the stuff it buys, but it’s unlikely his tariffs will make Americans richer.
What Trump also forgets is that what’s helped make America great are its friends; friends who back it in war as well as in peace.
Friends who share its values.
His tariff war will cost him some of them.
He’s already turned Canada into a virtual enemy, not just by imposing 25 per cent tariffs almost across the board, but threatening to wipe out its car industry and taunting it to end the pain by becoming America’s 51st state.
Some countries will figure America’s friendship isn’t worth much. Some will turn more to China or trade more with the communist giant, making them more dependent on America’s greatest rival.
For conservatives, there’s a challenge. Many almost worship Trump, and won’t tolerate a word against him.
Yes, I like a lot about his war on woke, and his demand that the rest of the West spends more on defence. But we now see his plan to Make America Great Again can mean Make Australia Poorer, or more in China’s grip.
We must speak up for our own country, and not just his. If Trump’s revolution fails, a blind worship of Trump power will taint conservatives for a generation.
It’s time to be loyal not to Trump, but to ourselves.
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Originally published as What Trump forgets is that what’s helped make America great are its friends; friends who back it in war as well as in peace
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