Where's the global resistance to imperialist US policies?

It's not too late for the rest of the world to band together and choose confidence over humiliation

- DANI RODRIK

America's critics have always depicted it as a selfish country that throws its weight around with little regard for others' well-being. But President Donald Trump's trade policies have been so misguided, erratic and self-defeating as to make even the most cartoonish 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.

One's true character is revealed in the face of adversity, it's said, 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 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 nation. But few rose to the challenge.