TRUMPIAN IMPERIALISM

America’s critics have always depicted it as a selfish country that throws its weight around with little regard for others’ well-being.

- Dani Rodrik

But President Donald Trump’s trade policies have been so misguided, erratic, and self-defeating as to make even the most cartoonish of such descriptions seem flattering. Still, in a twisted way, his trade follies have laid bare other countries’ failures as well, by forcing them to consider what their responses say about their own intentions and capabilities.

It is said that one’s true character is revealed in the face of adversity, and the same goes for countries and their political systems. Trump’s frontal assault on the world economy was a shock to everyone, but it also gave Europe, China, and various middle powers an opportunity to make a statement about who they are and what they stand for. It was an invitation to articulate a vision of a new world order that could overcome the imbalances, inequities, and unsustainability of the old one, and that would not depend on the leadership ~ for better or worse — of a single powerful country. But few rose to the challenge.

In this respect, the European Union has perhaps been the greatest disappointment. In terms of purchasing power, it is almost as large as the United States — accounting for 14.1 per cent of the world economy, compared to 14.8 per cent for the US and 19.7 per cent for China. Moreover, despite the recent rise of the far right, most European countries have avoided backsliding into authoritarianism. As a collection of democratic nation-states whose geopolitical ambitions do not threaten others, Europe has both the power and the moral authority to provide global leadership. Instead, it dithered and then submitted to Trump’s demands.

Europe's ambitions were always narrowly parochial;