The United States Is Being "Treated Unfairly"? My Ass.

Donald, who the fuck are you trying to kid?

Photo credit: Jacques Tilly (text adjusted by author)

Donald Trump loves to claim that the United States is being “treated very unfairly,” “ripped off,” and “terribly abused” by its trading partners — using these accusations to justify insults, crushing tariffs, and even threats to other nations’ sovereignty.

Let’s be clear: This isn’t just another lie from the U.S. president. It’s an obscene form of victim blaming. Sometimes, to truly grasp the absurdity of a situation, we need to lay out the facts as simply as possible. 👇

Be honest — does this sound like a victim to you?

Disproportionate resource consumption

• The U.S. makes up only 4.2% of the world's population but consumes 25% of the world’s resources, including:

  • 25% of the global oil

  • 33% of the world’s paper

  • 23% percent of the coal

  • 27% of aluminum

  • 19% of copper

• The U.S. produces far more waste, including food waste, per capita than any other industrialized nation.

• If everyone on the planet lived like the residents of the U.S., we would need more than 5 Earths to survive.

Top contributor to climate change

• Together with Iran, Libya, and Yemen, the U.S. is one of the only countries in the world that is not part of the Paris Climate Agreement — all other 191 nations have ratified it.

• Historically, the U.S. has contributed more to global CO₂ emissions than any other country — roughly twice as much as China.

• The U.S. is the only large industrialized nation whose leadership is denying climate change — despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary — recklessly putting the survival of all humanity at risk.

Unmatched economic leverage

• The U.S. dollar is the world’s primary reserve currency, granting unique and “exorbitant” financial privileges like:

  • Ability to print money without the same inflationary consequences other countries would face

  • Global demand for U.S. debt and assets

• The U.S. president has issued severe threats to ​​dissuade other countries from establishing the same privilege for themselves.

• Major global financial institutions — the World Bank, IMF, and SWIFT system — are heavily U.S.-influenced, giving Washington outsize power over the global economy.

• Trump's unprecedented tariff actions show his willingness to ruthlessly use economic leverage as blackmail to advance his own interests, even at the cost of widespread suffering for many people and nations. Economists widely criticize this approach as misguided and harmful.

Global market domination

• U.S. tech giants (Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, etc.) dominate global markets, often skirting taxes, stifling competition, and engaging in shady lobbying efforts to undermine sensible regulation.

• While demanding open markets elsewhere, U.S. trade policies often favor American firms and restrict access for foreign competitors (e.g., Inflation Reduction Act subsidies), posing an ‘existential challenge’ to other countries.

• Industries where U.S. companies exert disproportionate influence worldwide include: social media, online advertising, cloud computing, operating systems, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, messenger apps, payment infrastructure, e-commerce, streaming services, aerospace, defense, pharma, and credit rating agencies.

Long history of unjustified wars and foreign interventions

• While preaching “democracy,” the U.S. has often interfered in elections and overthrown governments around the world.

• The U.S. have started many wars — sometimes illegally and based on entirely false premises — that have killed millions of people, including hundreds of thousands of civilians since the turn of the millennium alone.

• U.S. government actors keep spreading misinformation worldwide and have meddled in politics in the UK, Germany, Ukraine, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Romania, Denmark, Greenland, Netherlands, Venezuela, Finland, and the EU.

Military superpower privilege

• NATO, which Trump often criticizes, is overwhelmingly beneficial to the U.S.: allied nations host American military bases and subsidize the infrastructure, reducing the need for costly deployments from U.S. soil.

• The U.S. maintains nearly 800 military bases in 70+ countries, giving it global reach and strategic dominance — no other nation comes close.

• The EU, Japan, and South Korea have all increased their defense spending at U.S. insistence, but American arms companies reap the rewards, selling billions in military equipment to allied nations.

Betrayal of allies

• Donald Trump demands more respect and gratitude from the leaders of other countries — after betraying them, insulting them, falsely calling them “dictator,” exploiting their vulnerability to plunder their national resources, and recklessly threatening their territorial integrity.

• Trump questions if NATO would defend U.S., but the only time the mutual defense clause has been invoked in the alliance’s 76-year history was after 9/11 — when NATO allies backed the U.S., and over 1,000 allied troops died in support.

Withholding humanitarian aid

• Despite the unprecedented global privileges the U.S. enjoys, it is one of very few industrialized nations that are not contributing to the development of poorer nations.

• Just 3% of U.S. military spending could end starvation on earth. However, rather than maintaining their commitment, the Trump administration abruptly cut foreign aid programs, a cruel move estimated to cost millions of lives in the Global South.

So why are Americans struggling financially?

Many Americans feel left behind and economically squeezed — and they’re right to be angry. But that pain doesn’t come from foreign countries “ripping off” the U.S. It comes from decades of domestic policies shaped by the very elites Trump empowers: tax cuts for billionaires, deregulation for corporations, and endless distractions that pit ordinary people against each other instead of holding their own leadership accountable.

Let’s be honest: a country that topples foreign governments, launches unjust wars killing millions, consumes a wildly disproportionate share of the world’s resources, threatens the sovereignty of allies, and exploits global systems for its own gain is not being mistreated — it is doing the mistreating.

The real scandal isn’t that the world is unfair to America — it’s that so many countries have tolerated this imbalance for so long. And perhaps it’s a good thing Trump keeps repeating this absurd narrative, because it forces the world to see clearly what’s really going on: an empire crying victim, while tightening its grip.

Instead of backing a man with imperial fantasies and a billionaire-packed cabinet, Americans should be asking why, in one of the wealthiest nations on Earth, so many still can’t afford healthcare, housing, or a stable future — and who’s truly to blame for that.

Fearless Integrity is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.👇