Understanding Trump in Any Language

The Trump administration’s unorthodox approach to foreign policy has world leaders baffled. Donald Trump’s unusual moves -- from his controversial early call with the president of Taiwan, to having his daughter, Ivanka, occupy his seat during a July G-20 meeting -- break with decades of diplomatic protocol. It can also be difficult to interpret his statements. The president sometimes contradicts himself and his own State Department -- as when he tweeted that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was “wasting his time” trying to negotiate with North Korea.

It doesn’t help that Tillerson doesn’t always step in to clarify. Compared with past secretaries of state, he doesn’t often speak to reporters or deliver policy speeches. And understaffing at the State Department doesn’t help. As a source identified as a “senior European diplomat” told The New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins, because there are hundreds of unfilled posts at the agency, foreign ministries can’t address issues with the U.S. at the “working level.” According to Filkins, the source said that “the overwhelming perception of American foreign policy among European governments was chaos -- that there was no way to know what the Trump Administration wanted to do.”