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Comment by echelon | Hacker News Reader

Same as what we've done to them with the GPU supply.

It's time for us to grow anti-fragility and independence. And we should expect China to do the same.

Sucks for US soybean farmers, but it would have undoubtedly happened in the future regardless.

We need to distribute critical manufacturing far and wide amongst our allies, and onshore some of the most important pieces. (Though I'm not sure the current admin considers our allies as friends, which is not a great idea during this great reshuffling.)

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In the last 9 months, we’ve seen the destruction of US international soft power on an unimaginable scale. It’s like watching a family fortune - built up over decades - go up in smoke in the hands of an irresponsible young heir.

It will be impossible or difficult for the US to “leverage” its traditional allies in the way it has in the past. NATO and trade were powerful tools to protect US interests but have been devalued considerably by what has happened this year.

Public sentiment towards the US in these countries is at unprecedented historic lows and given these allies were democracies, this means their political class cannot continue to support the US almost unconditionally like they have in the past. This destruction of goodwill will take a generation to repair.

I’m not sure our “allies” consider us allies any more.

It's deeper than that, it's about loyalties among you. Trump wants US military to get paid even with the federal government shutdown. [1] Like your executive fearing mercenaries changing their mind, instead of household troops staying in place when the pay chest takes a bit to show up.

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce808gvp56mo

PS: Sorry guys, you fucked up. Hard. And by extension fucked everyone else, so expect no sympathies. We will be busy with the new boss, while trying to keep our democracies not going to crap too. New boss, worse boss than old boss.

There are no “allies” only interests. Nobody is an “ally” of the US because they like us. They are “allies” because it’s in their own interest to be one.

When China starts throwing its weight around in the Pacific you’ll pretty quickly see those “allies” cozy back up.

Who are the US’s allies these days? A bunch of petro state monarchies in the Middle East?

> It's time for us to grow anti-fragility and independence. And we should expect China to do the same.

Now imagine if people stopped strong-arming each other.

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