[refurb]

This.

If anything, it showed the leverage the US has.

Even countries like Singapore, hit with a 10% tariff (marginal, and far lower than most countries) absolutely panicked.

Interestingly, I looked up the size of consumer markets - the US is twice the size of the next biggest market, the EU.

So I don’t blame countries for panicking.

And if you’re really conspiratorial, one could question whether the push for free trade was really an attempt to put the US into a situation where it had leverage against most of the globe.