g121 As the former PM was apparently famous for saying, perception is everything. Whatever the administration may be planning, whatever concessions they are already prepared to make behind the scenes, they are being judged by their observed behaviour now. The perception is of a disorganised bunch, with inconsistent messaging on just about everything, who apparently have no respect for international law, or their allies and neighbours. Regardless of one's ideology, that is not the way to run a country, unless it seeks to be a global pariah, and is not conducive to maintaining a relationship that has historically been one of trust and friendship.
In this state of affairs, you can't even trust that the words coming out of someone's mouth today won't be entirely different tomorrow (from that same person). Such behaviour is neither trustworthy nor friendly, and if the current administration even lasts four years, it will be a monumental task for any intelligent successor to pick up the pieces and even try to mend the frayed relationships, much less convince fickle former trading partners to "buy American" again. In short, it may hurt us now, but they will be sorry long-term. As with the groceries and shopping habits, once you twist our arms to change our ways, it can be difficult or impossible to convince us to go back to the way it used to be, especially since we can never tell when the next shift will come, with someone who will take the relationship from "friendly" to "I spit in your face".
