Supply Lines

Examining the Durability of the Deals Trump Negotiates

His strategy with Iran involves familiar moves aimed at maximizing leverage
US President Donald Trump during a news conference at the White House on April 6.Photographer: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Consolidated News Photos
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With US negotiators heading to Pakistan again to hash out a deal to either extend a ceasefire with Iran or the terms of a more enduring peace, the world again is pondering President Donald Trump’s deal-making prowess.

The view of Trump’s supporters is, of course, that the president is a master deal maker. Every escalation or threat, his backers say, is about leverage on the way to an agreement that will serve American interests. In Trump’s world everything is up for negotiation. The process may even matter more than the end result.