as an American, and I'm sure I speak for most of us, we didn't give a crap

I get it. False consensus aside, it's a trope that Americans don't much care about things outside their borders. Many Americans never cross a border, and for many people if it doesn't affect them directly then it's just noise in a busy day.

But with such long unguarded borders, minimal manufacturing, insufficient resources and a surplus of cash crops, it needs friends who will deal squarely with it and help secure those borders.

And when the oil and electricity run short, I hope America is cool paying "market prices" if we're no longer best-buds.