Former US Security Adviser warns Trump policies driving allies away

  Former US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said President Donald Trump's policies are prompting allies to reduce dependence on the United States. He warned weakening partnerships, declining defence sales, lower tourism and education revenues, and shifting global alliances are imposing economic and strategic costs 

Washington: Former US Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer has warned that countries across Europe, Asia and the Middle East are reducing their dependence on the United States, arguing that President Donald Trump’s policies are weakening American partnerships and imposing economic costs at home.

“The World Is Cutting Ties With America. It’s Already Costing Us,” Finer wrote in a guest essay published by The New York Times on Sunday. He said European policymakers were expanding their defence, energy and technology industries while diversifying relations with other countries. The shift was visible at last week’s NATO summit in Ankara, where Trump renewed threats against US allies Denmark and Spain, he wrote.

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Finer argued that the trend extended well beyond Europe. He attributed it to what he described as the Trump administration’s “ostentatious corruption, trade conflicts, military adventurism and mercurial artificial intelligence regulation”.

The former Biden administration official said this amounted to “a nearly global grand strategy of countries distancing themselves from the world’s most powerful nation”. Finer said weakening partnerships were eroding Washington’s military and technological advantages at a time of intense competition with China.

He argued that countries increasingly viewed self-sufficiency as a source of power. He cited economic costs from the Iran war, including higher petrol and fertiliser prices. The increases contributed to a $132 billion burden on American consumers, according to Moody’s figures cited in the essay.

Finer also pointed to falling European purchases from American defence companies. Europe raised its military expenditure by 14 per cent to $864 billion in 2025, but its purchases from US companies fell by almost half, he wrote.

Trump’s immigration policies were also driving countries and people away, Finer argued. The United States received four million fewer international visitors in 2025 than in 2024, costing more than $8 billion, according to the essay.

International university enrolment fell 17 per cent last autumn, costing universities at least $1 billion. India, Finer wrote, was strengthening commercial relations with Europe, the Middle East and, reluctantly, China. Concerns about dependable access to advanced American artificial intelligence models were also prompting New Delhi to consider domestic or Chinese alternatives.

“People here say we need to look again at China, or maybe even build our own,” a senior Indian official told Finer last year. He said Canada had established a “new strategic partnership” with China and joined a European defence fund worth more than $150 billion.

Japan was developing stronger offensive capabilities, while South Korean arms manufacturers were displacing American suppliers internationally. Finer acknowledged that some efforts by US partners to become more self-reliant could benefit Washington.

Greater European defence capacity could eventually release American resources for other priorities. Finer served as deputy national security adviser from 2021 to 2025 during the Biden administration. He is now a distinguished senior fellow at Yale Law School and the Center for American Progress.