Fareed Zakaria’s Aug. 15 column, “How to squander a superpower’s credibility,” was spot on in describing how President Donald Trump’s vacillating has driven U.S. allies to seek out more reliable partners. The United States’ drop in credibility has also emboldened many American adversaries to push ahead with initiatives that would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz being the prime example.
Zakaria pointed out that over the past eight decades, the U.S. built up credibility that our allies and adversaries knew would endure from one administration to the next. Zakaria did not include that this consistency was secured by Congress. What is currently lacking today is a Congress that has the backbone to ensure that U.S. commitments given are followed through with.
Allen Benson, Milton, Delaware
Fareed Zakaria’s Aug. 15 column was excellent. He might have added Ukraine to the list of broken U.S. promises.
In 1991, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine found itself with the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world. The United States and Russia, then led by Boris Yeltsin, convinced it to give up those weapons. Ukraine wisely questioned how it would defend itself without them. In response, the U.S. and Russia gave Ukraine security assurances that they would respect its sovereignty and defend it against aggression. It is doubtful that Ukraine put much weight in Russia’s assurances. But the U.S. had the reputation of making assurances that other nations could count on, regardless of who was president. Indeed, the international order constructed after World War II was based largely on reliance on U.S. credibility.
It is amazing how quickly a world order built over decades — one generally successful in securing peace and prosperity — can be destroyed.
Thomas Wilner, Washington
What data centers can build
Amber Phillips’s Aug. 12 The Fix column, “The data center backlash is building,” should have recognized that data centers, when responsibly built and thoughtfully planned, can deliver meaningful benefits to their communities. Data centers present a once-in-a-generation chance to expand tax bases, improve public services and make investments that could benefit residents for decades.
Wells Fargo analysts found that some counties with new data centers are expanding their housing stock by nearly 50 percent and increasing property values by about 14 percent. Data centers are also growing their regional economies by accelerating skilled trade job growth and creating new tax revenue that funds local public services.
Consider Loudoun County in Virginia. CNBC’s Sara Eisen reported that data center tax revenue has enabled the government to lower the property tax rate every year for over a decade.
Or look at Richland Parish, Louisiana, where teachers received $50,000 bonus checks due to increased local sales tax revenue from a new data center.
In Quincy, Washington, data center tax revenue now accounts for nearly 60 percent of property taxes, which has allowed the community to build a new hospital, library, police and fire stations, a state-of-the-art $120 million high school and more. And in Ellendale, North Dakota, revenue from data centers enabled the town to pave streets, renovate the senior center and restore its historic opera house.
That does not mean that legitimate concerns should be ignored. But those concerns should be weighed against the transformational scale of the opportunity.
Doug Kelly, Columbus, Ohio
The writer is the CEO of the American Edge Project.
These tariffs are working
The Aug. 11 editorial “China exports its economic problems to the world” aptly highlighted a problem that the American steel industry and U.S. manufacturers have long decried: China’s heavy subsidies fuel a glut of exports that distort global markets.
In a recent position paper, China’s Ministry of Commerce denied a link between subsidies and excess manufacturing capacity. However, it is well documented that Beijing is a leading source of overcapacity in the global steel industry. Chinese steel firms in 2024 received 15 times more subsidies relative to their asset size than steel firms in the rest of the world, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. A near doubling of China’s steel subsidy rate since 2019 has fueled Chinese oversupply and its steel export surge.
This is why the American steel industry strongly supports aggressive enforcement of U.S. trade laws to level the playing field and ensure competitiveness. Section 232 steel tariffs are working to strengthen the domestic steel industry, protect jobs and support America’s defense.
Kevin M. Dempsey, Washington
The writer is president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute.
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