American power is amplified by alliances. Military partnerships, intelligence sharing, trade relationships and diplomatic coordination allow the United States to pursue objectives that would be harder to achieve alone.
Alliances also create obligations. Partners expect consultation, security commitments and access to markets or technology. The United States, meanwhile, expects allies to contribute resources and align on strategic priorities.
The durable question is therefore not whether alliances are useful, but how they should evolve. A changing distribution of economic and military power requires alliances to balance deterrence with diplomacy and to remain credible without becoming automatic paths to conflict.