“Leave them alone. It’s not our job to protect foreign commercial shipping at the expense of U.S. taxpayers...”
And, what if that shipping is carrying US goods and commodities? Or goods destined for or that would benefit the US? What if that shipping is insured by US insurance companies? What if that shipping has US crewmembers?
I get it: Your posting history suggests you are a confirmed isolationist. Unfortunately, isolationism is no longer a luxury we can enjoy; that went away about 100 years ago. We live in the 21st century now, and EVERYTHING is globally connected. That’s just reality.
Let's go back a few weeks and see where the reports of U.S. Navy activity began to intensify. It was an incident involving the Navy acting to protect a Maersk ship (Maersk is a Danish company) flagged in Singapore that was traveling between a port of origin in Asia and a destination in Europe ... with a crew comprised mostly of Filipino sailors (and no Americans). There's absolutely no American interest at stake in that situation.
I would also point out that the global marine shipping industry has moved out of the U.S. and flags their ships in countries like Panama and Bermuda specifically to avoid paying U.S. taxes and to circumvent U.S. maritime shipping regulations.
No offense, but anyone who thinks it's a good idea to have the U.S. taxpayer foot the bill for the protection of foreign civilian ships under those circumstances is a moron.