DONALD Trump has changed the nature of Western diplomacy. He only knows how to play hard ball. This has led to disastrous decisions including his establishment of a US embassy in Jerusalem and his precipitate abandonment of America’s low-key but important role in Syria.
But it has also had benefits. In particular, Trump has cleared the air on issues around which other democratic governments have been pussyfooting far too long.
He called out fellow NATO states for their blatant failure to spend a minimum of two percent of their GDP on their military. He has challenged the EU over trade and publicly backed the UK’s breakaway from Brussels, promising the British a favorable trade deal.
He happily traded insults with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un which led to the first ever face-to-face negotiations with the Pyongyang leadership. The initial meeting in Singapore went well. The follow-up in Hanoi did not and Trump walked out. To his detractors, who are legion, not simply at home, this was a stunning failure for the president. Almost certainly Trump didn’t see it that way himself. He had offered Kim a deal and the dictator eventually turned it down. From Washington’s point of view, nothing has been lost since the confrontation with North Korea is back where it was before Trump’s initiative. In fact, having been close up and personal with Kim and his people, it could well be argued the Americans have gained much by way of insight into the Pyongyang regime’s thinking.
And then there is China. Despite Beijing’s accession to the World Trade Organization eighteen years ago, it has leveraged every possible advantage for its foreign trade, especially with the United States, while using all possible means to keep foreign business out of its domestic markets. Along the way, it has used its extraordinary manufacturing base for technology companies around the world to infringe their copyright secrets. Government-sponsored Chinese hackers have meanwhile been assiduously vacuuming up corporate as well as state intelligence. While it must be assumed US intelligence has been every bit as active with Chinese targets, the visible tip of this trade confrontation iceberg is made up of what are clearly unfair Chinese trade practices. Trump has called Beijing out, in the knowledge that since China sells far more to the United States than American companies are permitted to sell to China, the real losers in the mutual imposition of swingeing tariffs will be the Chinese.
Diplomats, not least those working for parastatal organizations are not used to plain talking. In secure, well-paid overseas positions where they enjoy a relatively privileged life, they pad out their work with pointless conferences and writing endless reports which recycle much the same, sometimes questionable information. With few honorable exceptions, they are more interested in their jobs than what they are supposed to be doing. They cannot be blamed for this. They are part of a vast diplomatic system that relies on obfuscation and endless subtleties to maintain itself. In conflict areas they are often praised for their persistence and patience. The reality is that they are being paid to wait and avoid any difficult truths. But Donald Trump does not do patience and nuance. At the very least his approach has brought about an interesting, if not actually refreshing, change to international diplomacy.
