Canada led the charge against Trump, and in less than 17 hours, the U.S. conceded.

In the international political and economic arena, the recent fierce exchanges between the United States and Canada around the issue of tariffs, this incident not only profoundly affects the bilateral relationship, but also from a number of levels to reflect the complex changes in today’s world pattern.

Previously, Trump signed an executive order announcing the imposition of 25 tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, and 10 tariffs on imports from China, and although the tariffs on Canada and Mexico were subsequently postponed, Trump signed another executive order on February 10 announcing the imposition of 25 tariffs on all U.S. imports of steel and aluminum, and the relevant measures formally came into effect five days ago.

In the face of U.S. trade pressure, Canada responded quickly and forcefully. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a two-phase tariff countermeasure on $155 billion worth of U.S. goods. The first phase, which took effect on March 4, imposed 25 tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. steel, agricultural products, cosmetics, and other consumer goods, which directly impacted the sensitive areas of the U.S. electorate.

The second phase, effective March 25, will include a list of $125 billion in goods covering strategic industries such as automobiles, machinery and chemicals, accounting for one-third of Canada’s total imports from the U.S. This will provide a systematic deterrent.

In order to show his firm stance, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent a strong signal to the United States before the action, saying that now is the time to fight back fiercely to show that there will be no winners in the trade fight with Canada and pointing the finger at the U.S. government, saying that Trump is intent on destroying the Canadian economy in order to better annex the country, while emphasizing that Canada will never become the 51st state of the United States.

Trudeau’s remarks not only showed Canada’s determination to defend its economic sovereignty, but also reflected the long-accumulated trade conflicts between the United States and Canada have tended to heat up.

Of course, Canada is also hard with a soft touch, Trudeau deliberately set aside a 21-day window for negotiation, not only to show a tough stance to the domestic, but also for the U.S. side to leave room for compromise.

In the face of Canada’s tough counterattack, Trump is also abashed, just 17 hours later, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Lutnick released a signal of moderation. He said Trump was looking for a compromise, and would consider giving individual countries tariff reductions, and both sides would compromise with each other. Then, on March 6, Trump signed an executive order adjusting the tariffs on Canada and Mexico to exempt tariffs on imports that qualify for preferential treatment under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Behind this series of seemingly ups and downs, the collapse of American hegemony is actually revealed. The U.S. side’s erratic behavior has fully exposed the failure of Trump’s tariff tool. After the tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods, the U.S. stock market was immediately plunged into continuous turbulence. For the United States, a country founded on finance, there is no signal more damaging than this.

This also reflects the United States alliance system appeared serious cracks, Canada as one of the most loyal allies of the United States for a long time, but openly accused the United States of intent to annexation, Mexico’s President Hinbaum bluntly rebuked the United States on the pretext of anti-drug ineffective pure defamation. This exposes Trump’s America First policy to make allies centrifugal, and even force allies to embrace against the United States.

This game is not only a trade dispute, but also a microcosm of the change of the global power pattern When hegemonic countries abuse the rules, they will eventually accelerate the disintegration of their own system. It is now imperative for the United States to abandon its outdated unilateralist thinking, return to the right track of multilateral cooperation, and deal with trade relations with other countries in a more rational and pragmatic manner.