This discussion leaves out two relevant factors: the UK nuclear deterrent, and the various arms control treaties. The UK deterrent is based on the US Trident system today, but it wasn't always. In the late 1940s most of Britain's stainless steel was used to make the gaseous diffusion plant which made weapons grade Uranium for our independent bomb. Then there was the famous swap of Tritium for Plutonium. Only when Sky bolt was cancelled did JFK agree to sell Polaris to the UK. The French are more independent of the US than us, on a scale of 0-10 they are at 8, we are at 6. Rationally, the USA likes the UK and French nuclear forces, because they increase uncertainty in the minds of potential aggressors, a key part of deterrence. Does that still apply in Trump world? Who knows?
This discussion leaves out two relevant factors: the UK nuclear deterrent, and the various arms control treaties. The UK deterrent is based on the US Trident system today, but it wasn't always. In the late 1940s most of Britain's stainless steel was used to make the gaseous diffusion plant which made weapons grade Uranium for our independent bomb. Then there was the famous swap of Tritium for Plutonium. Only when Sky bolt was cancelled did JFK agree to sell Polaris to the UK. The French are more independent of the US than us, on a scale of 0-10 they are at 8, we are at 6. Rationally, the USA likes the UK and French nuclear forces, because they increase uncertainty in the minds of potential aggressors, a key part of deterrence. Does that still apply in Trump world? Who knows?