Claims

The European governments and the Maersk, CMA CGM alliance have been fighting the Trump administration's maritime initiatives since day one to prevent U.S. re-establishment of maritime domain, because U.S. maritime costs are higher than low-cost third-world labor and lower-cost flag states.

Trump's argument for this restructuring is that for the last 80 years, the 'guy in Peoria' (ordinary American workers) has been the one paying the costs of globalization through hollowed-out industries and worsened living standards, while other nations got a free security ride; now it's time for those nations to pay, not for Americans to accept further burdens like raising the retirement age to 75 or cutting Social Security

Globalization is dead; countries are now prioritizing purely domestic interests above international cooperation, forcing even allies like Europe to abandon multilateralism when the US (as largest trading partner) does so.

China has used economic leverage over semiconductor and other markets as a political tool to reward and punish countries based on their foreign policy alignment, including whether they open offices for Taiwanese economic and cooperation bodies, demonstrating willingness to weaponize market dominance for political goals.