Donald Trump's exhausting style of diplomacy. Both enemies and allies are fed up with him

“He is surrounded by yes-men”

Trump and his advisers often give the impression that they treat most of the world's people like “non-player characters” in a video game without any influence. They believe, with few exceptions, that America can, through threats, economic superiority, and military force force other countries to obey.

However, foreign policy has its own rules. One of them – as in physics – is that every action causes a reaction. It may not always be equal or exactly opposite, but it is often not what Trump's team expects.

I hear more and more often from foreign diplomats that the president does not receive key information about geopolitical realities because his advisors don't want to tell him uncomfortable truths. Even more concern was caused by The New York Times' analysis of Trump's decision to take military action against Iran. “He's surrounded by yes-men,” says one high-ranking European diplomat.

This statement, repeated twice in different versions, suggests that The US set conditions rather than negotiated — even though he added that the Americans were “quite flexible.” These words did not go down well with supporters of the Islamic regime, and many observers from other countries considered the entire situation a missed opportunity to de-escalate tensions.

– If you want to get something from someone, you have to offer him something. Unless, as during World War II, someone actually surrendered, says a Western diplomat working in the Middle East. — You can't just keep saying, “We'll keep beating you.”

The Trump camp is marching on. “Americans are being exploited”

The Trump administration naturally rejects suggestions that its hard line is counterproductive. —For decades, previous administrations have stood idly by as Americans have been exploited: through unequal trade, unfair defense spending and cost sharing, uncontrolled illegal mass immigration, anti-American bias in international organizations, and so on. President Trump said, “No more,” Tommy Pigott, a spokesman for the State Department, told me.

So far, there is little evidence that Trump or his associates understand the domino effects they are setting in motion by issuing orders, or that they have learned from previous incidents of negative consequences. Or maybe they just don't care?

This was an impassable boundary for most European countries, whose leaders tended to maintain good relations with him during Trump's first year in the White House. In January, as Trump began pushing again to take over Greenland, European leaders made it clear to him that there was no chance of this happeningand then, with the help of NATO, they offered the US greater military access to the island.

“The United States has enormous influence, but this power is not infinite”

There has long been concern among foreign policy experts that Trump and his team are treating the world like a real estate bargaining ground, just as the president did in New York. However, reducing Russia's war with Ukraine or the Palestinian claims to the Gaza Strip only to territorial issues ignores the fact that In many conflicts, identity, politics and the struggle for the survival of the nation are much more important.

“Trump and his team often fail to realize that people are willing to fight for what gives their lives meaning beyond cold calculations of profits and losses,” a former Latin American official tells me.

One White House official defends Trump's trade moves, stressing that the European Union, Japan, India, South Korea and the U.K. lowered tariff barriers on American goods and continue to pay tariffs — “proof that the president is effectively exploiting U.S. economic advantages over trading partners.”

Haass said Trump's actions could be led by the United States towards a “post-American world”where they are no longer the center of global politics. This would certainly suit Beijing. In such a world, the US would have to constantly seek support instead of counting on the trust and loyalty of its allies.

— The United States is strong and has enormous influence, but that power is not infinite, says Dan Shapiro, who dealt with the Middle East in the Biden administration. — Even the best need allies, friends, partners.