The writer is the former deputy prime minister of Canada
The Supreme Court’s tariffs decision on Friday gives the US and its allies the chance for a reset. “Liberation day” tariffs imposed in April, and the ineffective international reaction to them, hurt regular Americans and strained the country’s relationship with its closest friends. The Supreme Court’s ruling offers a rare opportunity to fix that historic error. If they are smart, leaders on both sides of the aisle in Washington, and on both sides of the Atlantic, will seize it.
A reset needs to start with something America’s bruised and insulted allies may be loath to admit: when he first burst on to the US national political scene, President Donald Trump was right to say the global trading system wasn’t working for working people in the US. And it wasn’t working for working people in much of the rich, industrialised world either.