President Donald Trump wrote about his Art of the Deal strategy in his 1987 book and has used the tactics throughout his career. But his maximalist approach as commander in chief could be reaching the point of diminishing returns, considering how often he has used it in the past year.
Tom Cochran, a Democratic strategist and former Obama State Department official, described Trump’s strategy as “textbook anchoring, not something unique to Trump but standard negotiation tactics.”
“Anchor high, so any compromise might look reasonable,” Cochran told the Washington Examiner.
But Cochran added, “Ultimately, the danger of this approach is that it stops looking like leverage and starts looking like noise, causing counterparts to walk away rather than engage.”
Sean Savett, a fellow Democratic strategist and former Biden White House National Security Council spokesman, agreed, pointing to this week’s political and diplomatic rollercoaster regarding Greenland as the latest example of Trump’s maximalist approach.
Another Democratic source cited how “quickly” Trump “folded” last year during his trade war with China once Chinese officials imposed reciprocal measures on the United States, and last week’s “abandonment of protesters in Iran” as other examples.
The trade deal announced last October between the U.S. and China is, for the most part, an agreement to postpone, for 12 months, the imposition of China’s rare earth export controls on the U.S. and the U.S.’s protectionist and investigative responses, to provide time for further negotiations.
Then, Trump, last week, told Iranians protesting economic conditions under Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “help is on the way” before not ordering military strikes against the regime after it promised to stop killing the demonstrators and other dissidents.
“I’m relieved he backed down on launching an invasion of Greenland, which would be very unpopular with the American people,” Savett, the Biden alumnus, told the Washington Examiner. “But he’s diminished himself and our country through this process and burned his credibility. What world leaders trust him to keep his commitments? What ally now thinks they can rely on Donald Trump’s America? Through this whole episode, he’s squandered significant leverage and power on the world stage that will make it harder for him and future presidents to advance American interests.”
Hudson Institute adjunct fellow Paul Sracic disagreed. Instead, Sracic contended that the fact that Trump is willing to compromise “does not tell negotiating partners what they really want to know — at what level will he compromise.”
“For example, although President Trump compromised with Japan on auto tariffs, the tariff levels on cars have gone from 2.5% to 15% — a 500% increase,” Sracic told the Washington Examiner. “Steel tariffs have also doubled to 50% for most countries. Coupled with President Trump’s actions against Iran and Venezuela, our partners know that his threats are not idle.”
Sracic’s comments come after Trump last June ordered the bombing of three Iranian uranium enrichment nuclear facilities, including the U.S.’s first use of a bunker bomb in combat, and this month’s capture of former Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro from his residence within the Fuerte Tiuna military installation in Caracas.
For American Enterprise Institute visiting fellow Yvonne Chiu, however, “in theory, there is no limit [to Trump’s maximalist approach] so long as people choose to be rattled.”
“But some foreign leaders have been quicker to adjust than others,” Chiu told the Washington Examiner. “The stock market has already endured this enough times to heavily discount his threats — even in cases where they should not.”
Regardless of his critics, the White House remained undeterred, underscoring that Trump is the “‘Dealmaker in Chief’ for a reason.”
“His negotiating prowess has helped him end eight wars, craft fair trade agreements, and now, develop a framework that can help the United States achieve the national security imperative of acquiring Greenland,” White House National Security Council communications director Anna Kelly told the Washington Examiner. “The president leverages many strategies to deliver wins for the American people.”
Republican strategist Alex Conant reiterated a similar sentiment: “It’s a classic Trump tactic that everyone should be used to by now. He always takes a maximalist approach, and most of the time it seems to work for him.”
This week’s rigmarole regarding Greenland is the latest example of Trump putting extreme pressure on another party, in this instance, Denmark and other NATO allies, before announcing a compromise that can be spun as a win for the president.
During the week before the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump ramped up not only his rhetoric but his actions against Denmark, including announcing tariffs against it and NATO allies that dispatched military personnel to Greenland to protect the Danish territory, while not ruling out military options.
“How far are you prepared to go to acquire Greenland?” Trump was asked on Tuesday.
“You’ll find out,” he replied.
Then, on Wednesday, Trump announced a “framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.”
“Additional discussions are being held concerning The Golden Dome as it pertains to Greenland,” the president wrote on social media, withdrawing his threat of 10% tariffs from Feb. 1.
In a brief, informal exchange with reporters after the announcement in Davos, Trump called it an “ultimate long-term deal” that “I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals.”
But reports the framework, negotiated between NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Trump, includes Denmark recognizing U.S. sovereignty over parts of Greenland for the U.S. to build more military bases, have been disputed by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who is adamant that Denmark will not discuss “our sovereignty.”
In addition, the framework appears to fall short of Trump’s demand to “own” Greenland after he told the World Economic Forum earlier Wednesday, “All we’re asking for is to get Greenland, including the right title and ownership.”
In The Art of the Deal, which was written by the then real estate mogul and reality TV star with Tony Schwartz, Trump summarizes his “Think Big” philosophy for business and life, which, regarding negotiations, means setting the agenda, taking advantage of any available leverage, and not conceding any weakness in the process.
Besides Greenland, another example of Trump’s maximalist approach is his Liberation Day tariffs, which surprised allies, such as Switzerland, which had 40% duties imposed on it.
In response to the market’s conniptions, those tariffs, similarly to others under the U.S.-China and U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deals, were postponed, though they did put pressure on the likes of the United Kingdom, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea to negotiate new agreements.
Sectoral tariffs, differentiated from country-based duties, have also generated private investment commitments.
Nevertheless, Trump’s tendency to announce tariffs before postponing or otherwise not imposing them has earned him a catchphrase on Wall Street: Trump Always Chickens Out or TACO.
After Trump’s maximalist approach regarding Greenland, tensions are currently escalating concerning Canada, which Trump has insisted should be the U.S.’s “51st state” before this year’s renegotiation of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal struck by the president during his first term.
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“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way,” Trump said this week in Davos before alluding to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “I watched your prime minister yesterday. He wasn’t so grateful. They should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States — remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”