WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump, the real estate developer turned commander in chief, is laying bare his style of diplomacy in the early weeks of his new term: It’s a whole lot like a high-stakes business deal, and his No. 1 goal is to come out of the transaction on top.
The tactics are clear in his brewing trade war with Canada and Mexico, in his approach to Russia’s war on Ukraine and in his selection of the first country he will visit in his second term.
“President Trump approaches diplomacy and engages in a very transactional manner, with economics as the foundation and driving force behind international affairs,” retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, the president’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, explained at an event in Washington this past week.
For Trump, it’s about leverage, not friendship; dollars as much as American values; and hard power versus soft.
It’s not just a matter of negotiating style. At stake is the post-World War II international order as Trump’s actions raise questions about American leadership around the globe.
He’s shaping a foreign policy that’s more inward looking and conscious of the bottom line, dismissing American soft-power levers such as the U.S. Agency for International Development as dubious and riddled by waste and suggesting that the United States might not defend fellow NATO members that aren’t meeting defense spending benchmarks set by the alliance.
Politics and presidents to a certain degree are all transactional. But Trump, who helped make himself a household name as an intrepid real estate dealmaker, is taking it to another level as he navigates an increasingly complicated world.
The Republican president, in his previous life as a real estate titan, saw every deal as one in which there were clear winners and losers. In his return to the White House, he is more demonstrably injecting a what’s-in-it-for-America approach to his dealings with both friend and foe.
Who has ‘the cards’ matters to Trump
In his dealings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump has highly focused on who has the leverage. Putin has “the cards” and Zelenskyy does not, Trump has said repeatedly.
Zelenskyy appeared to be making some strides in assuaging Trump after their recent rocky meeting in the Oval Office ended with Trump and Vice President JD Vance criticizing the Ukrainian leader for what they said was insufficient gratitude for the tens of billions of dollars in U.S. assistance provided in the three years since Russia invaded.
Zelenskyy said later that how that meeting went down was “regrettable.” He also made clear he was ready to sign off on a minerals deal with the U.S. — even without the explicit American security guarantees sought by the Ukrainians — that Trump wants.
In his Tuesday address before a joint session of Congress, Trump acknowledged Zelenskyy’s fence-mending efforts. Trump also announced plans to send top advisers to Saudi Arabia this week for talks with Ukrainian officials.
Keeping an eye on the ledger
Kellogg, who also served in Trump’s first White House, recalled seeing Trump’s “transactional diplomacy approach” early in the first term. Kellogg said that the president’s first question in meetings with foreign leaders was often the same.
“As I found the very first time we were in the Cabinet room when a foreign official came in, the comment was, ’What is the trade imbalance between our two nations?”’ Kellogg recalled, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations event.
The trade ledger has been top of mind for Trump as he argues that for too long America has been played by friends and adversaries, including neighbors Canada and Mexico.
Trump last week announced 25% tariffs on many imports from Mexico and some imports from Canada amid widespread fears of the economic fallout from a broader trade war. He then postponed most of them.
The White House insists the pending tariffs are about stopping the smuggling of fentanyl. Trump has also at times suggested that the tariffs could be resolved by fixing the trade deficit.
The episode has underscored Trump’s willingness to embrace hard power to resolve differences.
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