Comment by pointlessone

It’s not about trade. Trump and his administration pulled Ukraine aid on multiple occasions. They halted intelligence sharing for like a day and a half and that let Russia retake Kursk region.

Once a solid partner Trump turned USA into an unpredictable dependency that can change allegiance at a drop of a hat.

And "the best weapons” USA sells are best not because of hardware but because of the services that pull the hardware together. Patriots, F-35, even Abrams are all so good because they’re all networked and work together. If the service is cut it all become much more expensive and so much less usable than competition from Europe.

So while technically Mirages, Grippens, Typhoons, and whatnot are a bit less advanced than F-35, now they seem much more reliable.