Malcolm Turnbull says it is ludicrous for leaders to become just a conga line of sycophants to gain an exemption on tariffs being levied on their economies by Donald Trump. It is true that a negotiating strategy based solely on managing the ego of a volatile President is foolhardy and precarious. But many are also falling into the trap of assuming that there is no reason or method to Trump’s trade policies, which they dismissed as quixotic, self-defeating, popularist, and absurd.

Continuing to do that is the surest way of putting oneself in the worst possible position to not just gain an acceptable agreement with Trump but also prepare our economy for what is ahead. The temptation is to suck up but implicitly talk down to a supposedly economically illiterate president.