Trump's Art of Unpredictability Starts to Backfire Overseas
- China, Japan, Germany complain over policy reversals
- U.S. reliabililty to feature at Singapore security conference
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As a businessman, U.S. President Donald Trump saw strength in his willingness to keep multiple balls in the air and change approach as they fell. In international relations, that unpredictability may be proving a liability.
In recent days, Trump’s sudden policy reversals on everything from tariffs to nuclear non-proliferation have prompted complaints from allies and rivals alike. Such flexible negotiating tactics -- laid out in Trump’s 1987 book “The Art of the Deal” -- have led them to question America’s reliability as a negotiating and, in some cases, security partner.