Much has been written, spoken and thought about U.S. President Donald Trump’s approach to trade with our country—specifically, what the hell to make of it. Prime Minister Mark Carney may look cool and collected, but more and more I wouldn’t want to be drywall near his fist.

Guesswork galore about trade discussions is the best any of us can do as the Aug. 1 deadline nears—if indeed any deal itself will be reached by that deadline.

But Trump’s tactics are hardly novel. They are slices of well-trodden psychological warfare that just so happen to be how he’s pursuing economic policy. Far from chaotic improvisation, the elements are rooted in classical negotiation theory, behavioural economics, social identity theory, and the psychology of authoritarian leadership.

More than any U.S. president he has applied the language of business to the language of statecraft. In his hands, tariffs aren’t actually instruments to balance economies as much as they are ripped from the psychology playbook aimed at dominance, disruption and loyalty.

Peering into his mind might be beyond the pale, but he is using three psychological frameworks: a personal negotiating style, a populist political script, and behavioural biases he exploits or embodies. Carney, one would hope, has appreciated and adjusted to these as he defines the country’s economic destiny; if not, we’re in more trouble than we think.

For instance, it is well known that Trump’s worldview is deeply transactional. Every relationship—whether with an individual, company or nation—is a deal to be won or lost. Tariffs, in this framework, are not complex means of global economic calibration but blunt-force bargaining chips. He calls them “a........

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