As he moves on to his fourth national security adviser in less than three years, it has become clear that President Trump’s foreign policy is in shambles. It has produced turmoil but achieved almost nothing. Despite all the boasts, there are no new deals with China, Iran, North Korea, or the Taliban or between the Israelis and Palestinians — just uncertainty, disappointment and lots of bruised feelings.
Trump informed the world that he was a great dealmaker. Yet other than minor changes to the North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.S.-South Korea trade pact — changes that Robert Zoellick, U.S. trade representative under President George W. Bush, believes have probably made things worse — Trump has achieved little. There are many reasons for this. The Trump administration has been chaotic and undisciplined, bringing the ethos of a mom-and-pop real estate shop to one of the largest and most complex institutions in the world, the U.S. federal government. Trump has had more turnover in senior staff in 2½ years than most administrations have in a full term.