India, July 5 -- It is about North America's economic security.

The United States' decision not to automatically extend the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) for another sixteen years is being reported as a trade story. It is not. It is the first visible sign that North America is redefining trade as an instrument of geopolitical strategy within a broader framework of economic security.

For more than three decades, beginning with the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement and later NAFTA, trade policy was built on a simple premise: reduce barriers, expand markets, improve efficiency, and prosperity would follow. The prevailing assumption was that globalization would make nations wealthier and, in doing so, more stable and...