First of all, it was a stupid, lousy negotiating strategy that has ended up with the United States much weaker than it was. How if I see a tariff, a country and I see there’s a slight divergence in tariffs I don’t think about. Until World War 2, every power that had had one extracted tribute from the powers that lost, including in World War one. What is in the National interest, what is in your interest is, I think, a pretty deep one, because I don’t think to say, recommitting to alliances, I don’t think that’s enough for it. But after World War, the British Empire expanded to its largest state ever, to its largest size ever.

Source: International New York Times April 10, 2026 19:51 UTC