If there is a law of unintended consequences, then a good example is how commodity markets are adjusting to both the realities and the perceived threats of the tariff war launched by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Mr. Trump’s trade and tariff measures have forced commodity producers, traders and buyers to rethink long-established relationships, adapt to emerging realities and try to predict what may happen. What is becoming clear is that commodity markets are adjusting not only to actual measures imposed by the Trump administration, but also to the possibility of future actions, which has created a desire to limit exposure to the United States.
An example of this is seaborne exports of crude oil from Canada, which have shifted away from the United States and toward China, even though Mr. Trump backed away from his initial plan to impose a 10-per-cent tariff on energy imports from Canada.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/canadas-crude-oil-shift-china-schools-trump-unintended-consequences-russell-2025-05-22/