I believe that sanctions, tariffs and similar things were more feared in the past years. I remember how people were talking that the USA can dive any country with economic sanctions because it's the most powerful country in the world but recent times showed us that sanctions don't do much, it's very easy to bypass them.
Bro, let's take it one after the other.
The US is a very powerful country, but when it comes to tariffs, the effect is almost mutual.
It depends on the country. If the US threatens a small country, then the effect is not mutual but if the US threatens a country like China, then the effect is mutual.
Also, a tariff targeted against a country will be more fearful to the country than a tariff that is tyrannically being targeted at virtually all countries of the world (like Trump's). This looks like a joke, and in the end, it is a shared burden that causes countries to look for alternatives. Even at that, many countries would rethink their relationship with the US and realign with the others by reshaping their dependence on the US as much as possible, and we've seen it in many countries now.
This brought me to the last point. Regardless of the position of power the US think it occupies in a trade war, no country has the monopoly of tariff weaponisation, the effect bites both countries, whether in money realised or in scarcity that it would cause in their country, thereby increasing inflation and bringing about other unpleasant chain effects.
I agree with you, no country is powerful enough to solely weaponise tariffs. Btw I believe that this tariff war will affect the US more than any other country because it shows that the US is a bully and one to one, bully wins but when bully tries to bully everyone in the room, then the bullied ones unite against the bully and finally, the bully gets bullied.
This is a fitting punishment for the Americans because Trump is responsible for weakening his own country economically. The more tariffs Trump imposes on other countries, the more his own country will face threats.
The more tariffs it imposes, the less country will want to have a long-term relationship and partnership with the US. They'll slowly try to get rid of it because no one likes bullies. Everyone loves someone strong and kind but no one loves someone strong and bully.