Over the last several days, there have been two especially noteworthy international elections. Friedrich Merz, of Germany’s conservative party, was voted Chancellor after a dramatic first-ballot miss, indicating a weak coalition. And Mark Carney, former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor, took up the leadership mantle as Canada’s Prime Minister, succeeding Justin Trudeau as the Liberal Party leader.

The results in Canada and Germany appear to be somewhat of a reversal of the trends previously observed in those countries. Our highlighted articles this week cover the international order, foreign policy, and changing political tides.

Scott Andrew Burns and Caleb Fuller begin with their leadoff installment of a new series addressing common economic fallacies in the context of global trade wars.

Allen Gindler explains how America’s political culture has been drifting away from classical enlightenment principles.

Scott Beyer takes a look at other countries’ use of tariffs.

Xiaoyang Zhang writes about what has been lost through the tragedy of American-Chinese relations throughout the decades.

We’re excited to share this issue of Independent Weekly with you—enjoy!

Jonathan Hofer
Managing Editor