From tariffs to insults and threatening to invade Greenland, Trump has rarely missed an opportunity in recent months to criticize America’s partners.
Yet now the 79-year-old Republican has said he expects the same allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil traffic and reacted angrily when they rebuffed him.
“It’s an extraordinary demand,” said Philip Gordon, the former national security advisor to vice president Kamala Harris and now an academic at the Brookings Institution.
“To justify risking people’s lives, not only for that operation, but for a president who has done nothing but insult and berate you for the last 15 months, that’s probably a bridge too far,” Gordon told AFP.
Trump has warned that the NATO alliance could be at risk if it fails to step up to unblock the strategic waterway, saying other countries get most of their oil supply through it and must contribute.
