Trade and war have
historically been related, as, for example, money from recurring surplus balances
of trade—an alternative to debt—has facilitated military build-ups prior to
going to war in the Europe. In threatening to take Greenland by military force
if the E.U. state of Denmark continued to refuse to sell the island and then
issuing 10% tariffs against Denmark and other E.U. states, as well as two
sovereign European states for having sent troops to defend Greenland in case
the U.S. were to invade, President Trump closely wielded trade and military
policy. The E.U.’s response was unbalanced, being oriented only to the trade element
of the E.U.-U.S. bilateral relationship, due to weaknesses in the E.U.’s
federal system.
The full essay is at "Mixing Trade and Defense Policy."
