Here’s what America’s allies are doing to cel­e­brate our 250th birth­day

Few birth­day gifts top the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty, which France com­mis­sioned for the cen­ten­ni­al of Amer­i­can inde­pen­dence. As the Unit­ed States approach­es its semi­quin­cen­ten­ni­al on July 4th, for­eign nations are once again prepar­ing ges­tures of their own.Those ges­tures come as tar­iffs, the war in Iran, and gen­er­al uncer­tain­ty about Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump’s for­eign pol­i­cy whims have left U.S. allies scram­bling. Yet, at least for America’s 250th birth­day, they present a rosy pic­ture of the country’s inter­na­tion­al footing.The Japan­ese gov­ern­ment donat­ed 250 new cher­ry trees to join the 3,020 saplings that the city of Tokyo gave Pres­i­dent William Howard Taft in 1912. Those trees cur­rent­ly line the Tidal Basin, as well as var­i­ous oth­er sites through­out Wash­ing­ton, D.C.
“I hope the new 250 cher­ry trees will also take root in this Amer­i­can soil and flour­ish as endur­ing sym­bols of the friend­ship between the peo­ples of Japan and the Unit­ed States,” Japan­ese Ambas­sador Shi­geo Yama­da said at a March event for the Nation­al Cher­ry Blos­som Fes­ti­val.
Th …