Washington Post (May 30)
“Sudden policy shifts are amplifying an air of unpredictability that the president has said gives him an edge at the bargaining table, even as U.S. trading partners complain that it erodes American credibility. Adding to the confusion are divisions among Trump’s trade advisers and complaints from members of Congress, who fear that the president may be stumbling into a costly multi-front trade war.”
Tags: Advisers, Bargaining, Complaints, Confusion, Congress, Credibility, Divisions, Edge, Policy shifts, Stumbling, Trade war, Trading partners, Trump, Unpredictability
The Economist (September 2)
“After pausing his missile tests just long enough for America’s secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, to say that Mr Kim was showing ‘restraint’, and for Mr Trump himself to claim to have Mr Kim’s ‘respect’, North Korea’s dictator unleashed three short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan.” Then Mr Kim shot an intermediate-range missile over Hokkaido, leaving many on edge. Despite this menace, it remains “striking that in Japan and South Korea, many fear Mr Trump’s unpredictability even more than Mr Kim’s.”
Tags: Hokkaido, Kim, Missile tests, North Korea, Respect, Restraint, Sea of Japan, South Korea, Tillerson, Trump, U.S., Unpredictability