Trump promised to be America’s dealmaker
in chief.
“We need a leader that wrote The Art of the Deal,” he said
in the speech announcing his candidacy. “I’m a negotiator. I’ve done very well
over the years through negotiation,” he said
during a Republican debate. “That’s what I do, is deals,” he said
in May. “I know deals, I think, better than anybody knows deals.”
Rubbish. So far, Trump has made no deals
at all, and the ones he thinks he’s made have unraveled.
He has no deal with North Korea. Following his June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un, Trump declared
on Twitter that “there is no longer a nuclear threat” from North
Korea.
In fact, recent satellite images
show that North Korea has upgraded a nuclear facility. It also appears to be finalizing the expansion of a
ballistic missile manufacturing site.
Instead of surrendering its nuclear
stockpile, American intelligence says North Korea is considering
ways to conceal it at secret production facilities.
As if to drive home the point that there’s been no deal, just after Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo visited Pyongyang to start filling in the “nitty-gritty details” of Kim’s vague commitment, the North accused the Trump
administration of pushing a “unilateral and gangster-like demand for
denuclearization,” calling it “deeply regrettable.”
Trump apologists say the supposed
deal with North Korea will take time.
Maybe. But Kim got everything he wanted from
the summit – an American president appearing to grant North Korea
co-equal status, and cancellation of joint military exercises with South Korea
– without conceding anything on weapons and missile programs.
Trump has no trade deals, either.
Instead, he’s launched simultaneous
trade wars with Europe, China, Canada, and Mexico.
After slapping tariffs on $34 billion
of Chinese imports, China has retaliated with tariffs on $34 billion of
American exports. Trump is now threatening tariffs on nearly everything China
exports to the United States, as well as a clampdown on Chinese investment
here.
After Trump raised tariffs on steel
and aluminum from Canada, Mexico, and the European Union, they also retaliated.
They promise further retaliation if Trump acts on his threat to place a 20
percent tariff on imported cars and car parts.
Are these Trump’s negotiating tactics?
“Every country is calling every day, saying, let’s make a deal, let’s make a
deal,” he boasted last week.
More rubbish. Trump’s actions have
poisoned relations to such an extent that instead of joining the United States
to, say, push China to open its markets, our trading partners – including China
– are starting to join together to stop Trump from doing worse damage.
Meanwhile, talks to revise the North
American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada are dead, partly because
Trump’s bullying has generated so much animosity across our two neighbors’
borders.
Trump has no deal on Iran, either. No
deal on Syria. No deal on the Qatar blockade. No deal on Israel and the Palestinians.
Trump will soon meet with Vladimir Putin
– with no agenda.
Over the past few weeks, Trump has given
away his bargaining leverage with Putin, anyway. He’s called for Russia to be readmitted to the Group of 7 industrial
powers, suggested it has a legitimate claim to Crimea because a lot of Russian
speakers live there, and expressed more doubts about whether Moscow meddled in
the 2016 presidential election.
Trump has no deal on climate change. He
simply pulled out of the Paris accords.
No deal with the Group of 7 leading
economic powers. He merely refused to sign the communiqué his own team
had agreed to. And no deal with NATO countries on increasing their military
spending.
“No deal” also describes Trump’s relations
with the Republican Congress.
He got no deal on replacing the
Affordable Care Act, so Trump is quietly repealing it administratively. At
least 5 million people will lose coverage.
No deal on gun control. After the
Parkland shooting, Trump promised to tighten
background checks for gun buyers and said he’d consider raising the age for
buying certain types of guns. He subsequently gave up, bowing to the NRA.
No deal on DACA or immigration,
despite Trump’s promises. No budget
deal, despite his assertions.
The tax
deal wasn’t really Trump’s – it was a deal between the Republican Senate and
Republican House, with Trump bloviating from the sidelines.
One of
the biggest cons from the biggest conman to occupy the Oval Office is that he’s
a dealmaker.
He’s not.
All he really knows is how to bully friends, stage photo ops with enemies, and
claim victory.