As the war in Iran and the resulting price hikes in oil continue to escalate, President Trump is seeking help from other countries, especially our NATO allies, in reopening the straits of Hormuz to allow a resumption of oil shipments. But America’s NATO allies are proving reluctant, as of this writing, to supply assistance. This may be due at least in part to President Trump’s past mistreatment of NATO and its member nations. President Trump should try to rebuild America’s alliances with other nations if he expects their assistance in this war or in future situations.
President Trump is right to be concerned with the spiraling price of oil. It is being reflected in the current nationwide average price of gasoline at the pump—over $3.60 and climbing. And the price of all goods and services made with or transported by petroleum products is continuing to rise as well.
To try to stem the rising cost of oil, Trump has authorized the release of oil from our strategic reserves into the market. He has also gone so far as to lift sanctions on Russian oil, even though Russia is supplying intelligence to Iran with which to attack American military assets, and he’s even lifted sanctions on Iranian oil (!!!) currently in transit too.
But these measures will only go so far to slow down the rate at which the price of oil is going up. There’s no substitute for reopening the Straits of Hormuz, keeping them open, and guarding oil tankers against whatever attacks Iran or its allies in terrorism may launch.
But despite President Trump’s demands for assistance, while correctly noting that our European allies are more dependent on foreign oil than the United States is, our European allies are so far dragging their feet. One foreign leader said America launched the war, not Europe (and without European input), and since the war isn’t Europe’s, Europe has no obligation to intervene. But European reluctance to come to America’s assistance may be related to President Trump’s past treatment of our NATO allies. Consider: President Trump has:
- Insulted the last two Prime Ministers of Canada, calling them “Governors” and Canada our 51st state;
- Threatened to seize Greenland from Denmark, one of our closest and reliable NATO allies;
- Imposed arbitrary, capricious, and harmful tariffs on our allies, thereby making more goods and services less affordable while creating less of the economic predictability businesses need if they are to expand operations and their workforces; and
- Belittled the contributions of Denmark and other NATO allies to our war in Afghanistan (a total of 2461 American troops and 1160 foreign troops were killed in action fighting for the United States in Afghanistan, including 44 Danish soldiers; while the number of Danish deaths may seem small to anyone other than the families of the deceased, Denmark’s casualties amounted to 8 per million of its population—the same as America’s deaths per million).
But despite all this, President Trump is at least partially justified in other criticisms of our NATO allies. Like his predecessors, President Trump has rightly criticized our NATO allies for spending less money on defense than agreed to; unlike his predecessors, Trump has actually extracted promises of more funding from our allies at long last. His efforts in that regard could help lay the basis of a stronger NATO in the future.
But for the time being, if Trump really wants European aid in opening and maintaining the Straits of Hormuz as a viable shipping lane, he should start soliciting European assistance by treating our allies as allies. At the very least, he should be willing to discuss strategies and tactics relative to the Straits of Hormuz with the heads of government in the NATO member states. Moreover, he should end, once and for all, any threats to undermine Canada’s sovereignty or Denmark’s title to Greenland. He should end the tariffs and restore economic stability to the international trading system, which will lead to more long-term prosperity for everyone. And if he wants our NATO allies to make sacrifices in combat against Iran, he must recognize the sacrifices in lives they have already made by fighting on our behalf in Afghanistan.
It should be noted that while President Trump has been demanding aid from our allies, he has also said America can go it alone if necessary in dealing with the Straits of Hormuz. And if he’s unwilling to recognize and treat our allies as allies, we may wind up having to go it alone after all.
Malcolm L. Cross has lived in Stephenville since 1987 and taught politics and government at Tarleton for 36 years, retiring in 2023. His political and civic activities include service on the Stephenville City Council (2000-2014) and on the Erath County Republican Executive Committee (1990-2024). He was Mayor pro-tem of Stephenville from 2008 to 2014. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Stephenville
Economic Development Authority since 2018, and as chair of the Erath County Appraisal District’s Appraisal Review Board since 2015. He is also a member of the Stephenville Rotary Club, the Board of Vestry of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the Executive Committee of the Boy Scouts’ Pecan Valley District. Views expressed in this column are his and do not reflect those of The Flash as a whole.
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