Trump tariffed India for buying Russian oil, and now Trump is buying Russian diesel, which is a form of refined oil. He has turned the United States into a hypocritical country with no principles, who no one should trust because no words, no deal, means anything. The country has always had to look out for itself, but the repeated backing out of deals, including ones made by Trump, the repeated economic and military aggression, and the naked unprincipled hypocrisy has turned the United States into an asshole country.
The Trump-Xi meeting didn’t change much, if anything important, but it does keep the conversation open, and, maybe more technical people can work something more substantial out.
A president meeting a foreign leader at the airport is rare and is a sign of deference and weakness. Xi stood at the top of his airplane steps, while Trump waited at the bottom like a subservient vassal. Probably doesn’t matter in the greater scheme of things, but goes along with Trump’s flooding dictators with love and praise while repeatedly violating the rule of law himself.
Despite Trump’s public subservience to China and its leader, and despite backing down at his attempts of major trade war against China, the Trump administration is still pushing back against China in smaller, yet important, and less headline grabbing, ways.
Iran’s nuclear program was one of the most transparent in the world thanks to the nuclear deal with Obama, which Trump left. With the war, it’s difficult to know what Iran is doing as far as nuclear research and building.
The war may have strengthened the Iranian regime by giving Iran an outside enemy that is attacking them. When Trump talks about erasing civilization and shares maps of Iran breaking up, that facilitates Iranians believing that the US and Israel are after Iran, not just the current regime.
Europe used to trust the United States to store their gold. Due to Trump’s erratic and aggressive behavior and comments, some of them are moving their gold back to Europe.
Trump’s bombastic behavior of threats, tariffs, and war are making the world more skeptical of the United States. China is taking advantage of that and arguing that they are the more reliable power.
Blockading Iran is hurting them economically. This could get them to the negotiating table, but it could take time and is quite costly for the US to maintain, both militarily, and the economic consequences of Iran mostly closing the Strait.
If Trump did not parade around the world like an asshole, threatening and attacking allies, there could have been a chance of a blockading coalition to help convince Iran the world will not tolerate them terrorizing the Strait of Hormuz. Oh well.