I don’t get this. Why are so many countries willing to play Trump’s game? It seems a horrible long-term strategy to allow one country to hold global trade hostage this way. Shouldn’t we negotiate between ourselves, i.e., between the affected countries?

The idea should be: for us, exports of X, Y, and Z are taking a hit, and for you A, B, and C. So, let’s lower our tariffs in these respective areas to soften the blow to the affected industries. That way, we would partly make up for, say, lost exports to the US for cars, at the cost of additional competition on the domestic market for, say, soy beans; and vise-versa; evening out the effects as best we can.

With such agreements in place, we can return to Trump from a stronger position and say: we are willing to negotiate, but not under threat. We will do nothing until US tariffs are back to the levels before this started. But, at that point, we will be happy to discuss the issues you appear to see with trade inbalances and tariffs, so that we can find a mutual beneficial agreement going forward.

Something like this would send a message that would do far more good towards trade stability for the future.