Bully boy routine grows old

BY ROBBIE GRAMER | JUNE 28, 2019, 3:28 PM

... the world has grown fairly used to his negotiating style. He’ll most likely publicly insult longstanding U.S. allies, then turn around and demand they play ball on his foreign-policy priorities behind closed doors.

It’s an all-too-familiar habit—along with Trump’s full-on embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he shared a laugh on Friday about Russian meddling in U.S. elections.

But two and a half years into his presidency, the bully boy approach hasn’t gotten Trump all that far. He did manage to orchestrate a successor deal to NAFTA—one that looked a lot like its predecessor—and extract some more defense money from NATO countries. With frequent insults and threats, Trump also pushed the Mexican government to do more to address immigration, including sending 6,000 troops from the Mexican National Guard to its own southern border to stem the flow of migrants from Central America.

So far, however, there haven’t been a lot of other goodies—and some experts say any short-term gain from the strong-arming tactics can come at a long-term cost. Today, foreign leaders can brush off the insults. Tomorrow, they might be less willing to strike a deal—or even face domestic political pressure to avoid one, lest they be seen as folding to the demands of a president who is deeply unpopular abroad ...

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/06/28/to-g-20-leaders-trumps-bully-boy-routine-has-grown-old-japan-g-20-summit-osaka-trump-putin-china-india-germany-japan/