“Nothing personal, just business.” This might as well be the guiding principle of Donald Trump’s foreign policy— cold, calculated, and ruthlessly transactional. Gone are the days of diplomacy based on shared values or long-term alliances. Under Trump’s leadership, the USA has reduced its global commitments to a series of profit-driven deals, where allies must either “pay up” or be discarded. From NATO to Ukraine, from India to Israel, and from China to the European Union, no country has been spared the brunt of Trump’s “America First, Allies Last” doctrine.

The most striking example of this shift has been his handling of NATO and European allies, whom he has consistently berated for what he calls “free-riding” on U.S. security guarantees. Trump’s frequent complaints that European nations are “not paying their fair share” in defence spending culminated in his open threat to withdraw the USA from NATO altogether. His demands for increased military contributions, though long debated within NATO, were delivered with an unprecedented bluntness that rattled allies.

Germany and France, long regarded as pillars of European security, found themselves at the receiving end of Trump’s ire, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz cautioning that a US retreat would be tantamount to “handing Europe over to Russia.” Meanwhile, Trump’s administration imposed 25 percent tariffs on European steel and aluminum, citing vague “national security concerns”, triggering a full-blown trade war.