Trade Deals

Is it believable to think countries are lining up to sign bilateral trade deals with the United States. Wouldn't this turn the World Trade Organisation and all previous free trade deals on their heads? 

Take Australia as an example, they have a free trade deal with the US, but that appears to now be worthless.

New Zealand's prime minister, Christopher Luxon has rushed to London to talk to the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer. No doubt, this is so the pair can get their stories straight. For New Zealand, there is a lot at stake; the UK is NZ's eighth largest trade partner, with much deeper cultural links, while China is NZ's largest trade partner by far. NZ has a large trade surplus with China, meaning China buys more from NZ than it sells to it. A larger trade surplus than exists with the US, and China isn't complaining. 

Those countries NZ has a large trade surplus with are: China, USA, Taiwan, Canada, Indonesia and India. My advice would be to wait out the current Trump administration, they're unlikely to last forever and any trade deals appear whimsical to say the least. Any trade partner has to be reliable, and the US has proven they're unreliable.

What do I think will likely happen? NZ will sit on the fence but buckle to US demands, thus wrecking the entire NZ economy. Australia will buckle sooner and they'll go downhill as a result. The UK will buckle immediately. 

But, what I hope will happen is that countries grow a pair and stand their ground. If they don't stand their ground, the US will be emboldened to make further demands.

China has warned any trade deals with the US which also attack China, will result in retaliation. That would be justified in my opinion. Any country rushing to sign a trade deal with the US, under terms dictated by the US, are taking a huge risk if they have a large share of their trade with China.