UK Must Recognise ‘America Is No Longer An Ally’, Historian Warns

The UK must recognise that the US is “no longer an ally”, according to a highly-respected historian.

His warning comes after Donald Trump sent the west into a tailspin with his now-abandoned bid to take control of Greenland.

As a semiautonomous Danish territory, the Arctic island is part of Nato – just like the US – meaning seizing it would have likely caused the defence alliance to collapse.

While the president has now dropped that demand after Nato offered him a “framework of a future deal” with greater Greenland access, historian and presenter Simon Schama suggested Europe should stop bending to Trump’s will.

He said European leaders have been trying to make Trump feel as though he can “get away with things by catering to his ego” without actually selling their own interests too short.

But speaking to Times Radio, Schama said: “That now has to be accompanied by a very stiff dose of reality, the reality being that America is no longer an ally.

“I know it is technically an ally but Trump really has set his marks on enfeebling one organization – Nato – and destroying the European Union.

“It’s very important to remember that Trump said many times over – you know Trump, the historian – has claimed that the European Union as earlier versions the steel and coal community was founded deliberately in order to screw the United States of America.

“So he’s always hated it.

“He’s always resented the notion that somehow it’s managed to defraud the world without pulling above or even at its weight.”

The historian praised the way Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney used his platform at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week to urge his allies to stand up to “bullies” – without naming any names.

He also recognised Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Davos speech, where he claimed Europe looked “weak” and “lost” next to Trump.

Schama said: “The difference in tone between the public address of someone like Mark Carney or indeed someone like Zelenskyy and the kind of lazy repetitive obsessive ignorant meretricious idiotic ranting ramble that Trump produced. It’s a kind of actual symptom of how they behave in the world of power.”

Trump also threatened to slap 10% tariffs on European allies who opposed his Greenland takeover this week, though he has since dropped that plan.

He caused further outrage by claiming Nato had never come to the US’s defence, even though the defence alliance rallied to support America in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York.