Threats only works if the threatened entity thinks they can avoid them via compliance.

Tariffs come anyway, both Canada and Denmark are under threat of annexation, and ICC suspensions of Microsoft emails show that governments cannot rely on US tech.

Yes, or as Cory Doctorow put it: "So now we have tariffs, and if someone threatens to burn your house down unless you follow orders, and then they burn it down anyway, you really don’t have to keep following their orders."

https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2025-12-16...