New Delhi, Jan. 25 -- As world leaders and business executives departed Davos after the annual World Economic Forum, the prevailing perception was that the meeting had been dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump. That impression, however, holds only if media coverage is taken as the sole measure of dominance. As is often the case, media attention gravitated toward spectacle rather than substance.

In truth, there was little in Trump's address that was either new or disruptive enough to meaningfully alter global trajectories. The one moment that caused raised eyebrows was his apparent disowning of European military personnel who had fought alongside U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was an unbecoming remark from the U.S. president,...