Balance of Power

The World’s Strongmen are Confounding Dealmaker Trump

President Donald Trump speaks from the Truman balcony of the White House on June 4, 2025.
*Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg*

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By Nick Wadhams

June 5, 2025 at 10:02 AM UTC

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For years, Donald Trump has boasted that only he has the talent and cunning to stare down the world’s strongmen. Where his predecessors failed, he would succeed.