Justin Ling: Trump knows how to whine and bomb, not much else. He needs luck on Tuesday - Toronto Star

Watching the U.S. president’s frenetic flailing on Iran makes a strange parallel to watching his attempts to overhaul North American free trade.

U.S. President Donald Trump dances at a campaign rally at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center in Lubbock, Texas, on Oct. 27, 2026.

Justin Ling is a staff columnist for the Star and an investigative journalist based in Montreal. Reach him by email: jling@thestar.ca

How do you negotiate trade with someone who can’t decide between genocide and diplomacy?

In recent weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested unilaterally ending the Iran war absent a nuclear deal or the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz; threatened to bomb Oman, which had been mediating talks; vowed “economic D-Day” on Iran’s trading partners; declared he would win the war outright; proposed renaming it the Trump Strait; said the war would end after November’s midterm elections; mused at the United Nations on whether to annihilate Iran or make a deal; promised not to bomb Iran before the midterms; said he might bomb Iran before the midterms; rejected a ceasefire proposal; bragged that he didn’t even want a deal, in spite of Iran’s pleading; said anyone leaking or publishing details of his Iran plans should be shot; teased both short, intensive strikes and a large-scale operation against critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, Trump’s chief advisers have admitted the war could go on for years.

Watching Trump’s frenetic flailing on Iran makes a strange parallel to watching his attempts to overhaul North American free trade.

U.S. Senator Susan Collins said she has ‘secured additional tariff exemptions’ for products that are crucial for Maine agricultural and seaweed