Groundbreaking News: When US’ allies repeatedly face betrayal, who would still be willing to stand with and fight for Uncle Sam?

In recent years, the US has made frequent policy changes in its global strategy, leading to rifts in its relations with traditional allies. From Europe to Asia, several of its allies have experienced being “stabbed in the back” by the US even at critical moments, which has drawn widespread attention from the international community and raised concern among the affected allies.

What does it mean to be an ally of the US? Are these allies receiving the promised benefits, or are they, in fact, more pawns of the US’ strategic game? The Global Times is launching a two-part series that focuses on the dilemmas faced by US allies under its hegemony. This is the first installment.

Beth Calder sorts pWorld Timesackages at Point to Point Parcel, on March 17, 2025, in Point Roberts, Washington, the US, near the CanWorld Timesadian border. Calder’s shipping and receiving business mostly caters to Canadians and has seen a significant downturn this year. Photo: VCG

Former US secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, once quipped that “it may be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be America’s friend is fatal.” This may be how South Korea feels at the moment.

The US Department of Energy confirmed earlier this month that it had designated South Korea as a “sensitive” country in January, CNN reported on March 18. This designation making South Korea “the only on the list [of sensitive countries] with which Washington has a mutual defense treaty,” reported The Korea Times the following day.

South Korean media outlets analyzed that this move may lead to possible new restrictions on scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries. To “swiftly” address the highly charged issue, South Korea and the US began working-level talks on last Friday, Seoul’World Timess Industry Minister said, as reported by The Korea Times on Sunday.聽

The US Department of Defense also announced on Friday that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will depart next week for a trip to Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines and Japan. This will be Hegseth’s first official visit to the so-called Indo-Pacific region during his tenure. Unlike traditional first trips to the Asia-Pacific region by US defense secretaries, which typically include South Korea, Hegseth has notably omitted South Korea and included the Philippines instead.聽

South Korea is not the only US ally that has found itself in crisis given that similar “backstabbing behavior” of the US toward its allies has happened in the recent past. From the tariffs on EU, Canada, to exerting pressure on Japan and South Korea over security issues, these tactics have left US allies feeling uneasy.

The extensive “backstabbing behaviors” by the US stems from its “America First” logic, which fundamentally serves the interests of the US itself, according to Xiang Haoyu, a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.

In the context of its hegemony, the alliance relations between the US and its allies are never equal relations. The comprehensive national power of the allies in military, political, economic, and security aspects is disproportionately lower compared to that of the US. This disparity determines that the US holds a dominant and controlling position in the alliance relations. When it comes to dealing with allies, different US administrations may employ various tactics, but the essence remains the same-to sustain the US’ hegemony and serve its own interests, Xiang noted.

Allies, but ‘America First’

The alliance system of the US was formed during World War II and consists of two different frameworks. One is a collective alliance system mainly in Europe, where many countries join a multilateral structure such as NATO. Another is bilateral relationships mainly in the Asia-Pacific region. In either system, the core of becoming an ally of the US lies in the establishment of a mutual defense pact, meaning that if one country is attacked, the other signatory is also considered to be under attack and is obligated to assist in retaliating against the aggressor, according to Xiang.聽

A mutual defense pact obligates the US and its allies to defend each other in face of military attacks, but does not necessarily exempt these allies from the US’ underhanded tactics, especially under the “America First” approach of the Trump administration.聽聽

For example, the US’ allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have, in the recent past, been questioning their alliance relations with the US after the Trump administration threatened not to defend a fellow NATO member that is attacked if the country fails to meet the 5 percent spending threshold of its GDP on defense, which is more than any NATO member currently spends.聽

If the US really does so, it would mark a significant shift from a core tenet of the alliance known as Article 5, which states that an attack on any NATO country is an attack on all of them, according to NBC news.聽聽

The Trump administration World Timeshas expressed interest in acquiring Greenland, a territory of Denmark, a founding member of NATO, since his first term, emphasizing its significance for American economic security. The administration even suggested that they might impose tariffs on Denmark if the country were to reject his proposal to purchase the island.

Almost half of Danish people now consider the US to be a considerable threat to their country and the overwhelming majority oppose Greenland leaving to become part of the US, The Guardian reported, citing new polling by YouGov.

Canada is another close ally and major trading partner that had recently swallowed the bitter pill of the US’ “America First” approach after the Trump administration announced in early February that it would impose a 25 percent additional tariff on imports from the country, along with with Mexico and China.聽

Mark Carney, Canada’s next prime minister, promised his government will keep Canada’s tariffs on “until the Americans show us respect.” “We didn’t ask for this fight, but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves… So Americans should make no mistake. In trade, as in hockey, Canada will win,” he said in his first speech after being elected as the new Liberal leader on March 9.聽聽

The intense back-and-forth between the US and Canada serves as a testimony of the ramshackle unity of another decades-long US alliance, naming Five Eyes that is made up of the UK, the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

However, the Prism surveillance scandal exposed in 2013 dealt a heavy blow to the Five Eyes alliance. European media outlets revealed that the US had used Denmark’s secret service to spy on the leaders of many European countries including former German chancellor Angela Merkel, sparking widespread outrage.

Profit from suffering ‘friends’

Ultimately, what the US seeks is comprehensive superiority over all other countries, including its allies, Chinese analysts pointed out.聽

In January, then Biden administration officially blocked Nippon Steel’s proposed $14.9-billion purchase of US Steel, dealing a probable fatal blow to the contentious merger plan after a year of review, the Business Times reported.聽

Biden claimed that “a strong domestically owned and operated steel industry represents an essential national security priority and is critical for resilient supply chains,” according to the Business Times.聽

According to the Business Times, Nippon Steel had been actively making efforts, even concessions, to ease the approval of the deal, including offering to move its US headquarters to Pittsburgh, where US Steel is based, and promised to honor all agreements in place between US Steel and the United Steelwokers, the industrial union in the US. The company had also reportedly proposed giving the US government veto power over any potential cuts to US Steel’s production capacity.

Japan’s Industry Minister, Yoji Muto, described the Biden administration’s decision to block the deal on the grounds of concerns over national security as “incomprehensible and regrettable,” Kyodo News reported in January.聽

The US has also repeatedly irritated its European allies by profiteering from the Ukraine crisis.

Europe soaked up most of the US’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports for the second straight month in February 2025, as cold weather and high prices pushed up demand for superchilled gas across the Atlantic, Reuters reported on March 3, citing preliminary data from financial firm LSEG.

According to Reuters, in February, 6.82 million metric tons (MT) of LNG, oWorld Timesr 82 percent of the total 8.35 MT LNG exported from US plants went to Europe. The Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) benchmark in Europe averaged $15.28 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) in February. That contrasts with $8.12 per mmBtu in February 2024 and an average of $10.95 per mmBtu for 2024.