Nicholas Mulder
Since returning to the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump has unleashed a whirlwind of policy shifts, territorial claims, and economic threats. In his first few weeks in office, Trump has expressed a desire to bring Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal, and the Gaza Strip under direct American control. He has also expanded his trade offensive against China to include Canada and Mexico, the United States’ two largest trading partners. In the case of Canada, Trump tied his commercial pressure to the stunning demand that the nation itself go out of existence. “Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada—AND NO TARIFFS!” he wrote on Truth Social. On top of all this, Trump made a dramatic turn against Ukraine, suspending all U.S. aid.
Many commentators have been at once disturbed and baffled by these moves. In January, The Wall Street Journal derided Trump’s threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico as the opening salvo of the “The Dumbest Trade War in History.” Yet Trump’s economic coercing and cajoling is not as inexplicable as it seems. Historically, directing economic coercion against allies—rather than adversaries—has been a remarkably successful policy: since the world’s economy integrated during the nineteenth century, tools of economic coercion have frequently become more effective when deployed against diplomatic and economic partners than against hostile states.
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