'Not going to end well': Ex-NATO commander rips Trump for 'smashing relationships' with US allies

On Tuesday morning, March 4, U.S. President Donald Trump's new 25 percent tariffs on goods imported into the United States from Mexico and Canada went into effect. And Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in response, announced a 25 percent tariff on U.S. goods imported into Canada. According to Trudeau, $155 billion worth of U.S. goods will be affected.

Canada and Mexico aren't the only U.S. allies Trump is attacking. On Friday, February 28, Trump and Vice President JD Vance angrily berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a televised meeting in the White House Oval Office.

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, a former supreme allied commander for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was vehemently critical of Trump during a March 4 appearance on CNN.

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Trump, the 80-year-old Clark lamented, is undermining valuable U.S. alliances — from Canada to Ukraine — while being manipulated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Clark told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "I think some people working in the (Trump) Administration really understand that President Trump is being played by Mr. Putin, but I don't know if President Trump really understands that after smashing our relationships with allies. And I'm sure this will make President Putin really happy, too. After doing this, enticing Putin to come to the table, what are we going to say to him? He's going to ask for more and more and more. What's it really about?"

Clark continued, "And so, I look at this as a severe departure from normal pattern of United States' national security processes. We're bipartisan. We're nonpartisan in national security, and President Trump has come in here and wants to turn the table upside down. He wants to somehow cozy up to Mr. Putin and disregard and insult and separate the United States from our allies. This is not going to end well."

Blitzer agreed with Clark's warning, noting that a "very, very serious situation" is "unfolding" as "U.S. credibility with allies" is "on the line."

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The former NATO commander pointed to Trump's tariff against Canada as an example of Trump "wanting to sever the relationship" with the United States' "closest ally."

Clark told Blitzer, "You're worried about Chinese and Russian ships in the Arctic. And so, we're going to have a breach of our work with Canada? It doesn't make sense. And so, when you try to understand, this doesn't make economic sense, doesn't make strategic sense. It's just a break in the way that the U.S. operates."

The retired U.S. Army general continued, "And yes, the market's going down, Wolf, because when you look at something like this, it's not just about the tariffs. It's about the credibility of the United States. It's about the trustworthiness of the president. It's about what kind of leadership he brings to the United States."

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