No. In this specific situation where everyone else has already slipped the tariffs?

China is the biggest target, it hasn’t been isolated from the world economy or the free trade system. America is making an attempt to isolate china but how many countries will play along?

What soft power they retain will be aimed at “traditional values” crowd

Fair enough. But there is more to soft power than just cultural factors. The reliability of the American market itself is in question, and this is not a good thing. America going with fascist aesthetics is nowhere near as America trying to interfere with the global gravy train.

It is impossible to convince the Europeans to side with the global south out of the goodness of their hearts (which they don’t have). However, fucking with their wallets will cause everyone except the most ardent European hitlerites to rethink their relationship with America.

I think it would be a mistake to view China as isolated in this. First of all, Russia, Vietnam and Iran are pretty strong partners to have. Secondly, there is the BRICS bloc, which has been growing largely due to American abuses of the international finance system. America flip flopping so hard on tariffs and then extorting every country in the world will no doubt cause American soft power to decline rapidly in the coming years as countries grow weary.

Also, on a purely military and industrial basis, China outclasses the whole of the west by such a margin that there really isn’t anything to worry about. China of all countries cannot have its industries decimated short of nuclear strikes.