Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, his shock tactics and explosive actions have made waves on the world stage. There is no shortage of adjectives characterising Donald Trump’s international modus operandi: narcissistic, transgressive, unpredictable and erratic, boastful, clumsy, even vulgar, dishonest, brutal… His tweets and curt sentence-based internal and external communications present leaders and diplomatic corps worldwide with a redoubtable challenge when for example, he shamelessly goes public about conversations that should have otherwise remained private and confidential (as was recently the case regarding a text exchange with Emmanuel Macron). Such disturbing behaviour would’ve caused a breadth of diplomatic havoc if it hadn’t come from the leader of the world’s biggest superpower, leaving partners of the United States with no choice but to adapt accordingly and keep up appearances.
Diplomacy in relations between foreign leaders and Trump, is still necessary, in the same way that international law retains its intrinsic value in relations between nations. Despite multiple breaches, including those by the current US President himself, diplomacy remains an art form in terms of communication, and compromise between parties that do not share the same perspective on the world, especially when they are in disagreement over a particular issue.
