Trump Can Shake Global Trade. He Can’t Rewrite It.

Donald Trump has once again stirred the global economic order.

The latest disruption comes from the collapse of trade talks between the United States and Canada, followed by Washington imposing 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Canada has already announced a “dollar-for-dollar” response.

It is another escalation in a trade war that has already unsettled America’s friends, allies and competitors alike.

We have seen this movie before.

Barely weeks into his second term, Trump unveiled his now-famous tariff dashboard, presenting a long list of countries and their supposed tariff barriers against American products. The presentation was designed to shock and it did. Friends and adversaries alike were forced to respond.

Some countries yielded to the pressure. Others resisted. Some retaliated with tariffs of their own. Eventually, almost every major economy or economic bloc began negotiating with Washington. Some reached agreements. Others, including India and Canada, continued negotiating.

Now Canada has joined the list of countries facing another round of American tariff pressure.

All of this is happening against the backdrop of the continuing Iran–U.S.–Israel conflict, which has also failed to produce the decisive outcome Washington may have hoped for. The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints, carrying roughly…