I was at a hotel off Zilker Park, early enough that the coffee shop was still quiet. Austin has this quality where even the lobby of a nice-tier hotel feels like a coworking space by 8 AM. Laptops materialize. Quarter-zips appear and conversations drift from weekend plans into quarterly targets without anyone noticing the transition.

At the table next to me, three people who I can only assume worked at BigCommerce — or Commerce.com, or whatever they’re calling it this quarter — were talking about Canada. Not hockey or maple syrup. They were discussing tariff posture and the USCMA Review. The general posture of a White House that has made economic nationalism into something between a policy platform and a personality trait. This is standard fare for anyone paying attention.