To the editor:

Sales of U.S. defense equipment boomed with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Europe’s realization that the end of the Cold War did not make the world a safer place.

However, many of our allies are rethinking their reliance on American military equipment. With threats to retake the Panama Canal and annex Greenland — and make Canada our 51st state!– they now see us as an unreliable partner and are looking for alternative sources for their defense.

The cost of our erratic foreign policy may prove to be substantial. Mark Carney, Canada’s new prime minister, has ordered a reconsideration of their purchase of F-35’s; other European nations are similarly reconsidering U.S. weapons purchases, according to Paul Krugman writing in his March 17 Substack.

Sales of U.S. defense equipment in 2024 were $318.7 billion, or 15% of all U.S. exports, according to Krugman. To put this in perspective, this was twice the value of ALL U.S. agricultural exports that same year.

Other sectors of our economy are also taking a hit from our arbitrary policies. Here’s a March 17 headline from the Washington Post:

“Nervous About Trump, International Tourists Scrap Their US Travel Plans.”

In 2023, foreigners spent $100 billion on travel here according to Krugman and many are now rethinking their visits. Heard about Canadians canceling their summer golf packages in Malone?

Other impacts of bad policy will no doubt land in the coming months. In 2023, international students spent $50 billion attending U.S. colleges according to Krugman.

Recent headlines about the detention and expulsion of students will discourage interest in attending U.S. universities. According to Cynthia Liao writing in “Immigration Blog” on April 2, 2024, 290,000 Chinese students attended college here in the ’23-’24 school year, down from 370,000 in 2019.

Do you see our relationship with China improving in the near term?

Kirk Peterson

Lake Clear