Commentary Since the end of World War Two, the U.S. Navy has been responsible for maintaining open and orderly overseas trade routes around the world. The United States has borne the costs of doing so, as those trade routes are a key part of the U.S.-led international order. The results, of course, speak for themselves. Safe shipping routes have enabled global trade to rise to the highest levels in history. They’re what allow nations to trade in oil, automobiles, agricultural products, and many others with relative ease and safety. In turn, nations in far-flung regions have had safe access to markets and goods that they otherwise never would have had. Many nations of the world are much better off with access to free and safe sea lanes. What’s more, few, if any, national leaders publicly discuss the possibility or even the probability that this underlying stability could change at any …