President Donald Trump believes that he can transfer his main professed skill in the private sector — deal-making — to the world of foreign policy. But foreign policy, and the diplomacy that supports it, cannot be reduced to cutting businesslike deals alone. When making short-term deals trumps long-term strategy, America loses. And this will create problems for the new president and his administration as they seek to implement their “America First” agenda.
Perhaps nowhere is Trump’s dangerous approach to foreign policy more concerning than in his apparent desire to accommodate Vladimir Putin’s Russia. It’s unclear whether Trump’s views are the product of foolishness or of Russian coercive leverage over him. But it’s not only his views on Putin and the Kremlin’s motives that should disturb all Americans. It’s that he has repeatedly talked about making deals as the way to improve the relationship.
