At the G-7, Trump Showed Again That He's a Terrible Negotiator

[babylonsister]

At the G-7, Trump Showed Again That He’s a Terrible Negotiator
If you’re going to go with “maximum pressure,” don’t immediately undermine it.
By Fred Kaplan
Aug 27, 20193:15 PM


President Donald Trump’s wild and woolly press conference at the end of the G-7 summit shows, once again, that the putative author of The Art of the Deal is a lousy negotiator.

It’s one thing, and fairly risky, to go all-out “maximum pressure” on China and Iran, but at least that’s a strategy. It’s another thing, and simply bumbling, to do so, then to admit having “second thoughts” about escalating tariffs against China (then to have a spokesman backpedal on that) and to welcome a dialogue with Tehran (only to have President Hassan Rouhani blow him off).

Similarly, it’s one thing, though unconstitutional (and, therefore, a mindless bluff), to order U.S. companies to stop doing business with China, as Trump did just before the summit. But another then to say, at the press conference afterward, that President Xi Jinping is a “great leader” who will make a deal soon, and once he does, the companies should stay put and “do a great job.”

If you’re a corporate executive doing business in China, or an investor trading currencies, or even engaged in commerce almost anywhere in the world, what are you supposed to do? How are you supposed to plan even months, much less years, ahead? As Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times, protectionism, though bad enough, can be accommodated, but “erratic protectionism” is the stuff of chaos and downfalls.

The fundamental problem with Trump’s meanderings is that he doesn’t know what he wants.

It’s not just finance and industry that Trump is running ragged; this erraticism also warps diplomacy and damages U.S. interests. Asked about his tendency to veer back and forth at the press conference, Trump replied, “It’s the way I negotiate. It’s done very well for me over the years, and it’s doing even better for the country.”

Well, no. It has not done very well for Trump over the years, unless you define “very well” as boosting profits by bilking suppliers and evading debt by declaring multiple bankruptcies. And neither technique has an analogue in the more complex arena of international politics.

more...

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/08/trump-iran-china-negotiations-g7.html

[underpants]

1. I just read this

Good article

[lunatica]

2. Trump's strategy of confusing everyone deliberately has boomeranged on him

Now he’s the one he’s fooled.

[gratuitous]

3. "It's the way I negotiate"

In the trades, it's what lawyers often characterize as "bad faith." That is, one party puts forward an offer or proposal that he has no intention of honoring. It's done well for Trump over the years because he has proved that it's not worth it to hold him to his word unless you're willing to spend a lot of money and battle him for a long time. It's why his own attorneys wouldn't meet with him one-on-one after a while; they knew he couldn't be trusted unless there was more than one witness.

[Midnightwalk]

4. Well yeah

....unless you define “very well” as boosting profits by bilking suppliers and evading debt by declaring multiple bankruptcies.

But that is how he defines success. Did he make money or get attention by negotiating. Not did the project make money but did he get to spend other peoples money during the negotiation. Or did he get stuff written about him good or bad.

The project or policy mean nothing to him. It’s just a grand game of grift. Once that is accepted it becomes uglier but less confusing.