>the world gets free trade defended basically at zero cost
At zero cost? Ask the families of those who have been killed by american millitary.
>If Scandinavia had to pay for that
Other than the Scandinavian soldiers killed, and millitary gear lost in the different wars? Other than the thousanda of refugees scandinavia and europe have taken in from the destabilized middle East?
>it would have far less money available to spend its money on Scandinavia First policies.
There are no Scandinavian first policies.
Again, why should Scandinavian countries pay for Americas geopolitical activities more than is already done?
You're being too general, in my opinion. Piracy is almost completed stopped just by presence, not by combat. American also engages in and their taxpayers fund foreign wars, which perhaps it should stop doing, but that is very separate to economically bouying up a global economy via and global R&D via global grant awards and open sharing of American research findings. Trump is right now pausing NIH funding and detaching from the WHO. All the funding that paid for benefited other countries is now gone, partly because people globally laughed at America for not spending enough on its citizens, and eventually enough of its citizens didn't think it was worth keeping on doing that any more.