This week our cover focuses on Donald Trump’s foreign policy. For decades America has stood by its friends and deterred its enemies. Now Mr Trump is putting the squeeze on America’s allies and seeking deals with adversaries like Russia. European and Asian allies can no longer be certain that Mr Trump or a President J.D. Vance would fight alongside them if the worst happens. Around the world, allies fear that America First means they will come second, third or even last. For America’s allies, this shift is so extreme that it is tempting to deny it is happening and to assume that Mr Trump will backtrack. But denial is not a plan. Instead they should focus on the economic leverage that they have over America—smart retaliation against foolish tariffs worked for Europe in the first Trump term. America’s allies should also build up their own economic and military infrastructure as an insurance policy. Last, they should seek strength: Europe should collaborate more closely with Japan and South Korea on trade, tech and defence. That would help preserve an alternative liberal order, albeit vastly inferior to the original. For America’s allies, there is no point whingeing: they need to toughen up and get to work.