The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that B.C. Liberal Party leader Christy Clark decided this week to step into the rapidly brewing U.S.-Canada trade war. The Globe's Gary Mason writes that in response to the punitive countervailing tariffs levied on Canadian softwood exports and the target Mr. Trump also placed on the country's dairy industry, Ms. Clark felt it was time someone took a stand against these actions and nominated herself. While denouncing the United States for abandoning its commitment to being a good trading partner, she proposed a ban on U.S. thermal coal transiting through B.C.'s ports -- a move only Ottawa could authorize. If that sounds like someone starting a fight they cannot finish, you would not be far off. Ms. Clark, sagging in the polls and desperately needing a PR lift, decided to look tough in the face of U.S. trade aggression. Thermal coal is a scourge to the Earth, and anything that stops the spread of its use is a good thing. However, the fact is the feds support the shipment of the stuff through the Port of Metro Vancouver. Last year, it approved a new thermal coal port on the Fraser River to export as much as four million tonnes of it overseas.