Trump playbook with Putin looks to history
Is the US president ready for his meeting with the Russian leader, or is he about to repeat the mistakes he made with Kim Jong Un?
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump is looking to the history books for the summit on Friday (Aug 15) with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. A breakthrough could be possible, but many of the preconditions for a fair, robust and sustainable deal to end the Ukraine war may not yet be in place.
The template Trump is referencing includes the big meetings between then-US president Richard Nixon and Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1972, plus the ones between then-US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union chief Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s. However, those historic breakthroughs required intense, careful preparation – a quality that is not Trump’s strong suit.
While Trump has shown himself to be an effective dealmaker on some trade agreements, he has consistently been ill-prepared for big, complex diplomatic negotiations. This was demonstrated during his first term in office with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The 2018 decision to hold a summit in Singapore, marking the first meeting between the US and North Korean leaders, was very spur-of-the-moment.
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