Of all the erratic tariffs imposed by President Trump, few have been so vindictive as those meted out to Brazil, which from 1 August has been subject to 50% effective tariffs. And as Brazil subsequently took its case against the US to the World Trade Organization, the question is not whether it will win or lose (it will almost certainly win), but rather: Why have dozens of other countries suffering enormously from arbitrary and illegal US tariffs not joined in the Brazilian case or brought their own cases in the WTO against the US?

The motive behind Trump’s trade war with the largest economy in South America – with which the US has a surplus in bilateral trade –appears to be mainly political: he wants political revenge for the prosecution of his autocratic ally, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who now has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for plotting a military coup​after he lost the 2022 presidential election, and his supporters then stormed government buildings in Brasilia (sound familiar?).

Despite accompanying and mostly gratuitous US allegations of unfair trade practices by Brazil, these tariffs seem to have nothing to do with trade and everything to do with Trump’s personal grievances. Thus, the president of the United States continues to depart from the global practice of the past three-quarters of a century of keeping non-trade concerns out of trade relations. Constrained in other ways, Trump is using the wide latitude Congress has delegated to him on trade (and is fearful of now limiting) to employ tariffs as a panacea for just about anything that irks him in the actions of other countries.

To a considerable extent, Trump pulled his punches, at least for now, with these tariffs on imports from Brazil. Nearly half of Brazil’s products are exempt, including orange juice, Embraer regional aircraft, and petroleum. But coffee, beef, and many more products are not excluded, and these levies are likely to inflict significant pain on both countries. (Prices on the global coffee market have already surged 30% since Trump’s Brazilian action.)

A combination of the harmful economic effects on billions of dollars of bilateral trade and the Trumpian intrusion into Brazil’s domestic politics has persuaded the Brazilians to take legal action in the WTO. Their arguments – that the US has violated WTO obligations not to engage in trade discrimination, not to exceed bound tariff rates, and not to retaliate against perceived unfair trade practices without first seeking authorisation in WTO dispute settlement – are all sound. The US defence – that these tariffs are necessary for US national security – is legally laughable.

So why are other US trading partners who have, like Brazil, been burdened by the highest US tariffs since the Great Depression not yet shown up in WTO dispute settlement making these same claims? Yes, the dispute settlement system is damaged due to the empty bench of the Appellate Body – thanks entirely to the destructive actions of the US.

But even so, a combined WTO case brought by a large group of WTO members against the Trump tariffs would increase enormously the quantity and dollar value of trade retaliation that could be lawfully imposed against US exports worldwide to counter those tariffs – retaliation that could create real leverage against Trump and would acquire de facto legitimacy even though the absence of the Appellate Body would deny the US an appeal and therefore prevent the members of the WTO from formally adopting a ruling against the US by a WTO panel.

So far, except for Brazil, China, and a few others, the 165 other countries in the WTO have been largely bending the knee to Trump’s trade bullying. They have been acquiescing to the authoritarian “might makes right” of economic coercion. They have received nothing in return, other than elusive promises and tariffs that are not quite as astronomical as they could have been – and which could change at Trump’s arbitrary whim.

To their credit, in India and elsewhere recently, some of these countries have been coming together to talk about taking some common action to counter the protectionism and nihilism of the US and save the vastly beneficial global public good that is the WTO-based multilateral trading system by re-establishing the international rule of law in trade.

It is essential that they do so. And what better way to begin than by standing up to Trump, summoning the courage to join Brazil as co-complainants, asserting their rights under the WTO treaty, and insisting on resolving their trade disputes with the US in the way that the treaty intends? What are they waiting for?