The Hanoi summit collapse reaffirms Trump’s amateur hour in diplomacy

Michael Fuchs explains how the collapse of the Hanoi summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reflects President Trump's amateurish diplomacy.

Donald Trump came away from his meeting in Hanoi with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un with at least one thing: material for a new book, The Art of No Deal.

The breakdown in talks in Hanoi reaffirms what we’ve known for almost a year – this process has been diplomatic amateur hour. Trump has repeatedly undermined his own negotiating position by making clear that he already sees his diplomacy with North Korea as a success. After the first summit with Kim in Singapore in 2018 Trump falsely claimed that “there is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea”. Days before the Hanoi summit, Trump said that he didn’t need Kim to make any more concessions – “as long as there’s no testing [of nuclear weapons and missiles], we’re happy”.

The above excerpt was originally published in The Guardian. Click here to view the full article.

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