WHAT'S UP WITH THE "FREE TRADE" OF THOSE PUNISHED BY TARIFFS? ON

The upheaval in the world-economy is palpable. I find it a tiny bit odd. Consider this. According to 2023 data from the World Bank's World Development Indicators dataset, the United States accounts for

9.89% of world commodities exports, and 12.8% of world imports . The trade deficit in goods is USD 1.2 trillion; meanwhile, that is counterbalanced by a positive US trade balance in services, to the tune of ~USD 300 billion.

Two things seem to follow.

First, clearly, as it is widely noted, the US has a bit of a trade imbalance. But, that should be at last to some extent compensated by the also widely discussed fact that the US federal government has had pretty intense, and longue-durée control over the world economy thanks to the USD being a de facto world currency for several generations now. Plus, there are a bunch of other things a technologically reasonably--although of course, as we know, very unevenly--advanced state can do to reduce that imbalance, other than throwing the world economy into a frenzy.

Second, meanwhile, again according to the same source publicized by the World Bank, the United States accounted for 26.1% of the world GDP in 2023. (All estimates are in current USD.) In other words, the US' GDP constitutes almost exactly TWICE as great a share of the world economy as its imports, and 2.6 TIMES GREATER than its exports. Any impartial observer might reasonably conclude that the US is pretty well shielded from the rest of the world by an apparently strong domestic market. Based only on those figures, I don't see what the big rush is about.

Be it as it may, it is clear that the current, whopping tariffs can only be imposed on that 12.8% and 9.89% (imports and exports, respectively) of the world economy.

So, here is my question: What about the remaining 87.2% and 90.11% of the world economy (again, NON-US imports and NON-US exports, respectively)?

Can somebody smarter than me explain why the rest-of-the-world is not coming together, strengthen cooperation and integration, create literally free-trade-based--i.e., tariff-free--trading zone bypassing the USA, in reaction to the Creep1 tariffs, threats of war, etc.? Or is it the case that it's happening but it isn't reported? Or, have I just missed the bulletin?

I'm not saying that would be a good thing. Probably terrible. But what I'm not getting is how come nobody is following the neoliberal dogma that we have been force-fed for generations now?

Or, is it possible that the rest-of-the-world is already busy posturing for a post-US-hegemony world, trying to figure out how to stake out starting positions in the new world-system?

WHAT'S UP WITH THE "FREE TRADE" OF THOSE PUNISHED BY TARIFFS? OFF