The Art of Dealing With Trump
As Canada’s international trade minister and foreign minister, I learned that the only thing that works with this president is strength.
The art of dealing with Donald Trump in trade negotiations can be likened to trying to arrange a marriage. Countries enter the table with amicable intentions and strive for a partnership. The pressure is to strike a deal, rather than block one, and if they fail, it is a cause for concern, not anger. However, Trump has transformed trade agreements from discussions about marriage to threats of divorce.
Prior to his presidency, the Western consensus held that free trade benefited individual countries and the world as a whole. Trump, on the other hand, does not share this belief. More crucially, his trade negotiations are not solely about trade but also encompass domestic politics, geopolitics, and staging a drama in which he and America emerge as winners.
Trump views trade as a means to assert dominance over adversaries and provide protection for allies, akin to the tactics depicted in Roald Dahl's Matilda rather than the principles of Adam Smith.
In the MAGA administration, the fundamental principle is that countries must pay for the privilege of selling their products to the United States. This can be accomplished through tariffs, pledging investments in the U.S., or even through actions that bear no relation to trade but are desired by the White House. Most of America's allies have seemingly given in, accepting detrimental and unjust tariffs or offering other forms of tribute.
Written by urgent.news from The Atlantic's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
