India, Oct. 31 -- Almost a year after he won the presidency for a second time on the promise of turbocharging the US's trade, President Donald Trump has arrived at a deal with China. While the details are yet to be worked out, the quid pro quo seems to be a 10-percentage point reduction in US tariffs on Chinese goods to 47% in return for, in order of priority, China agreeing to ease rare earth supplies, agreeing to buy US soybean and cracking down on fentanyl production. The first is likely the most critical component of the trade truce between the world's two largest economies. Trump, in his characteristic style, has claimed a massive victory, while the Chinese side has dubbed the deal as proof that a complete Sino-US decoupling is in neither country's interest. Global markets, and more importantly, global value chains, will heave a sigh of relief with the deal. Rare earth supplies are essential in making anything that involves electronic components, whether rudimentary or cutting-edge. China almost completely dominates the supplies for these inputs. All major economies, the US included, have been trying to find an alternative to Chinese supplies, but that is not something feasible in the near term. The latest Sino-US deal also holds lessons for other economies, especially US allies. While Trump invented his protectionist rhetoric targeting China, it is not the country with the highest US tariffs anymore: India and Brazil have higher tariffs than China now. The fact that Trump has agreed to bring down the tariffs faced by Chinese goods by more than a third after China put a squeeze on rare earth supplies also shows that his style of mercantilism is best countered by reverse mercantilism for an absolutely critical input. Not all countries hold such a card vis-a-vis the US. Even more sobering is Trump's hyperbole; he called his meeting with the Chinese president the G2 in his post on social media. This is not a term that exists, and Trump's use of it is clearly signalling that the rest of the world can very well be used as cannon fodder in the great power competition between the US and China. Everybody else, India included, should take note. The best response to such a geopolitical situation would be to strengthen domestic capabilities, both economic and extra-economic....