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The "trading nations don't invade" line is ahistorical poppycock. It is something IPE (international political economy) types within political science departments ginned up and as an article of faith and a reason not to know anything about security and real politics. All the historical evidence is against it. The US and UK in the 20th and 19th centuries respectively, were the two biggest trading nations in the history of the world. And fought literally hundreds of wars, many of them aggressive. Tell Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Panama... Or read a little book by James Farwell called "Queen Victoria's Little Wars". Trading nations have in fact frequently waged wars of predation or opportunity or in defense of trading or property interests, especially against smaller and technologically weaker opponents.