[maxsanic]

Rushing to retaliate and doing so alone was a big mistake.

Now US can isolate China vs the rest.

Chjna should have gathered a group of countries to retaliate together.

No, it doesn't work that way. China is the one that is seeking to replace US as the world #1, the rest of the world don't really mind who is the #1 as long as they can prosper. China isn't an all noise but no action European or Japanese midget, taking on the US is a crucial step they cannot avoid. Hanging around hoping someone would go first or trying to seek safety in numbers is not feasible, nobody would be dumb enough to do that unless it's the end of the road for them. 

That is a risk and responsibility China must demonstrate to the rest of the world, you have to show others you are prepared to lead and slug out with the incumbent superpower before people will even consider recognizing you as the next superpower. Once you take this critical step, others will then carefully weigh their options on what to do. But one thing for certain is once this step is taken, there is no backing down for either US or China.

As for the US gathering the rest of the world to encircle China, this exists in only the figment of a MAGA's imagination. As things stand, the US is struggling to even keep Canada and Mexico in line, two of the most dependent and proximate countries to the US. As for the rest, nobody has even reached an agreement on anything with the US before Trump chickened out a few hours into his liberation day tariffs.

The guy is now trying to convince everyone that countries are lining up to kiss his ass and join him in some anti-China crusade, but what does he have to show tangibly besides rhetoric? Nothing, not a single proper agreement. It's all rumors, tweets, conspiracy theories and wishful thinking. You start a trade war with the whole world and haven't even gotten anything formalized and ironed out and you backed out of the war and now you want people to respect and follow you?

The rest of the world is going to follow someone who is struggling with Canada, Mexico, at odds with EU, don't dare to touch Russia, abandon Ukraine, cannot even get any traction with the Yemeni Houthis to take on what is arguably an even bigger and more powerful country than the US?

Does this even sound semi-plausible?