Responsibility for world rests on all countries' shoulders

Editor's note: Disregarding international rules, the United States has stirred up trade frictions around the world, and it is the rules-based multilateral trading system that has been the biggest victim of Washington's unilateralism and protectionism. Zhong Sheng, a columnist for People's Daily, comments:

Behind the trade tariffs being imposed by the US administration is its unilateralist foreign policy. Compared with the past efforts of the US to block changes in global governance, some US politicians are now intent on sabotaging international rules. When dealing with diplomatic issues, they are obsessed with the belief that "the US is the strongest it has been in history", implying that all have to make way for the US.

However, the world is not a battlefield where mere size and strength determine who is the winner. The zero-sum thinking and unilateralism of the US are already ostracizing it from the international community. Worldwide condemnation of the US for its egoism, trampling on rules and undermining the global governance system indicates that its unilateralist thinking is at odds with the trends of the times and the US can no longer claim to stand on the global moral high ground.