Exploitation of the U.S. by Allies (2025): NATO, Defense, Trade, IP Theft
Canada, Mexico, EU, China are exploiting the U.S. without consequences in 2025...
It’s no secret that the U.S. plays “Mr. Hero” on the global scale. All the woke morons who claim the U.S. is “exploiting other countries” are mentally damaged.
If anything the U.S. does more good for non-U.S. citizens across the world than many of their own countries by providing jobs and building up economies in a healthy way.
The U.S. has played global hero for a long time and there are some strategic advantages from doing this. Foreign aid, donations, accepting unfair trade deals, etc. can yield significant indirect “soft power” benefits that are hard to quantify: mindshare, influence, military cooperation, etc.
However, in 2025, the U.S. is being heavily exploited in NATO, Defense, Trade, R&D, IP, etc. and they continue allowing it while subsidizing NGOs that just keep trash-talking and smearing the image of the U.S. (yes we’ll take your handouts while we spit in your face and tell everyone how evil you are).
The U.S. is unfortunately subsidizing socialism indirectly in many highly-developed countries like Canada, Mexico, the EU, and even China.
How the U.S. is Getting Ripped Off & Exploited by Other Countries (2025)
Included below are some data to support the idea that the U.S. is getting ripped off and/or exploited by other developed or highly-developed countries.
The budgets for socialist benefits in these countries would take significant hits if they treated the U.S. fairly… but left-wing U.S. govs kept letting them get away with it - while funding NGOs that directly manufacture anti-U.S. propaganda.
These are just some of the ways the U.S. is getting taken to the cleaners in 2025… I’m not even being thorough here. It’s probably far worse than you can imagine (many things like flooding our country with criminals, stealing pharma IP globally, stealing tech IP globally, etc.) aren’t even covered.
1. Defense & NATO Subsidies
FY 2025 Defense Budget
The U.S. defense budget has reached $850 billion, up 3.3% from 2024.
This includes $175 billion for procurement and $145 billion for R&D—much of which underwrites the modernization of military equipment and technology.
NATO Burden Sharing
Despite pledges, many European allies still fail to meet the 2% of GDP defense spending target. The shortfall shifts roughly $70–120 billion of European defense costs onto U.S. taxpayers.
If NATO members contributed at agreed-upon levels, the U.S. could potentially redirect tens of billions annually to domestic priorities.
Global Military Footprint
Maintaining overseas bases and forward deployments costs $50–100 billion per year. Host-nation support often covers only a fraction of these expenditures, leaving the U.S. to foot the remainder.
Defense “Ripoff” Subtotal: $120–220+ billion per year.
(Reflects the extra defense costs the U.S. shoulders due to allied underfunding and extensive overseas commitments.)
2. Trade Imbalances & Market Barriers
Trade Deficit
For 2024–2025, the U.S. is projected to sustain a goods deficit over $1 trillion, with major contributors including:
China: $382 billion deficit
EU: $200+ billion deficit
Not all of this is due to overt “unfair trade,” but a sizable portion ties to higher foreign tariffs and non-tariff barriers.
Tariff Discrepancies
The EU levies tariffs on U.S. goods often 2-3x higher than equivalent U.S. tariffs. In autos, for example, Europe imposes a 10% tariff on American cars while the U.S. charges 2.5% on European imports.
Regulatory Costs
American tech giants face billions in fines and compliance costs in the EU, effectively acting as “stealth tariffs.” These measures can significantly undercut U.S. economic competitiveness abroad.
Trade “Ripoff” Subtotal: $300–500+ billion per year.
(Represents how one-sided trade barriers, higher foreign tariffs, and punitive regulations disadvantage U.S. exporters and businesses.)
3. Research & Development (R&D)
Federal R&D Outlays
The FY 2025 budget allocates $202 billion for federal R&D, targeting AI, quantum computing, biotech, and advanced defense technologies. Much of this innovation eventually benefits foreign markets at reduced costs.
Pharmaceutical Cost Shifting
Americans continue to pay some of the highest drug prices globally, effectively subsidizing pharmaceutical R&D. Estimates suggest $25–50 billion in annual cost-shifting to U.S. consumers.
Medical Device & Biotech Innovations
U.S.-funded breakthroughs in devices, biotech, and advanced treatments are sold abroad—often at lower, negotiated rates—amounting to another $10–20 billion in annual cost advantage for foreign healthcare systems.
R&D “Ripoff” Subtotal: $35–70+ billion per year.
(Captures how overseas price caps and discounted licenses shift America’s R&D expenses onto U.S. consumers and taxpayers.)
4. Intellectual Property (IP) Theft
China’s Role
Forced technology transfers, industrial espionage, and cyber theft linked to China cost the U.S. between $225–600 billion annually. Although China is diversifying its own R&D, it still heavily relies on appropriating U.S. intellectual property.
Other Hotspots
Lax IP enforcement in emerging markets (e.g., India, parts of Southeast Asia) adds tens of billions more to the annual losses, though China remains the primary source of concern.
IP “Ripoff” Subtotal: $225–600+ billion per year.
(Includes stolen trade secrets, pirated software, and forced joint-venture tech transfers.)
5. Global Institutional Contributions
WHO & Climate Funds
The U.S. remains a top contributor to the WHO, at around $400–500 million annually, while other major economies under-contribute relative to GDP.
Under the Paris Agreement and other climate initiatives, the U.S. has pledged tens of billions in climate finance, while some key polluters fail to meet their own targets.
IMF & World Bank
With the largest quota share in the IMF, the U.S. takes on significant financial exposure to bailout packages worldwide. Critics argue the U.S. shoulders outsized risk compared to the direct benefits it receives.
Global Institutions “Ripoff” Subtotal: $10–30+ billion per year.
(Illustrates how U.S. contributions to health, climate, and financial institutions can exceed fair proportions based on relative GDP and benefits.)
Annual “Ripoff” Report (2025)
Summing these up (while acknowledging possible overlaps), the conservative estimate of “ripoff” costs hovers around $700–750 billion annually, while high-end calculations can surpass $1.4 trillion. (My guess? Far over $1T/annually).
This massive range highlights just how extensively the U.S. may be bankrolling other nations’ defense, medical breakthroughs, and economic growth.
Proponents of a tougher, more reciprocal approach argue that recapturing even a fraction of these losses could transform American infrastructure, healthcare, and innovation funding.
Why does it matter?
In a fair and just world… why wouldn’t it matter? Many countries heavily ripping the U.S. off are considered “equally advanced” or “more advanced” by some sources - yet they know they can continue getting away with unfair contributions, theft, etc. because the U.S. is a complete “softie” (continuing to ease the pain of their horrendous socialist policies).
As of 2025, the U.S. still grapples with uneven defense burdens, persistent trade deficits, high drug costs, rampant IP theft, and disproportionate contributions to global institutions.
Rectifying these imbalances—through robust trade negotiations, enforcement of reciprocal tariffs, stricter IP protection measures, and insistence on equitable defense spending—could free up HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS annually to reinvest domestically… the U.S. is the one doing most of the innovation work and this would help get it done quicker.
Whether one views these as necessary global leadership for more “soft power” or costs or an unsustainable “ripoff,” the numbers suggest America’s role as indispensable funder remains firmly in place.
Other countries need to be held accountable…
Holding other countries more accountable for free-loading might maintain the same level of “soft power” and potentially even amplify it because they don’t appreciate things unless they actually pay up or contribute.
Sharing responsibilities more fairly may strengthen alliances, as partners become more invested in mutual defense and cooperation.
Nor would goodwill and global standing be undermined. By recalibrating who pays what, the U.S. would likely see greater support at home for international engagement, and allies might respect a more balanced approach.
The U.S. would still lead on major global issues and retain the same—or greater—diplomatic clout, because its core strengths remain unchallenged. In short, the U.S. can insist on fairer contributions from its allies while preserving the invaluable intangibles of global leadership.
Ideally these other countries would wake up and get out of their socialist hazes so they can start contributing their fair share… implementing max free market capitalism would benefit both themselves and the U.S. - and they’d be able to contribute their fair share to trade and innovation without feeling much pain.
Trump is trying to correct this unfair treatment of the U.S. with tariffs on Mexico, Canada, China, and EU in 2025, but there’s no guarantee it’ll work. How things play out will be interesting to follow.
In 2018 Trump targeted China with tariffs - and it mostly worked out (Biden doubled down on this)… China was ripping off the U.S. heavily, but losing them as a trading partner sucks for both economies.