Instead, the protectionist president, who has long vowed to put America first, has been busy sweeping the globe in recent days. In addition to negotiating the release of a US citizen detained by Hamas, he and his team have conducted business in the Gulf, lifted sanctions on Syria, slashed American tariffs on China, ordered Ukraine to hold talks with Russia in Turkey, continued to hold quiet negotiations with Iran over a nuclear deal, and even claimed responsibility for mediating a ceasefire between India and Pakistan.
As the US diplomatic bandwagon sped from problem to issue, both allies and adversaries were finding it difficult to keep up. Just, wow!” said one diplomat from London. “It is almost impossible to stay on top of everything happening.
What is happening, then? What have we discovered about the US president’s developing foreign policy during this hectic week? Is this really an accidental convergence of world events, or is there something resembling a Trump doctrine?
Perhaps the president’s trip to the Gulf, where he articulated his vision for a world of interstate relations centred on trade rather than conflict, is a good place to start. When Trump spoke in Riyadh, he stated that he wanted the Middle East, which “exports technology not terrorism,” to have “commerce not chaos.
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