Canada and Mexico have surrendered to Donald Trump, but these victories for the US president in his phoney trade war are not what they seem.

Beneath the surface, the concessions his two largest trading partners have made are just repackaged initiatives and old promises – with some window dressing about opioid smuggling

The blitz of threats against Canada, Mexico, Denmark, Panama, the EU and UK – much like his blizzard of executive orders after his inauguration – sends the message that Trump is back in business.

But the president is less interested in extracting substantive concessions than in the optics of submission and the winning deal.