How about some mature diplomacy by the new US president?
The Trump administration is sending mixed signals to the world – by way of President Trump saying one thing and his people saying another.
For example, after Mr Trump criticised Japan and Korea for lacking self-reliance, saying that they should develop nuclear weapons for their own protection, he sent Defence Secretary James Mattis to reassure the two countries that they still have the US’s full support.
Secondly, after Mr Trump chastised the European Union for “not paying their bills” in operating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and threatened that the US might reduce its financial support for the organisation – he dispatched his vice president, Mike Pence, to reassure the EU of the US’s unaltered backing.
And the last instance: following President Trump’s verbal attack on Mexico for “stealing American jobs”, and his promise to build a big wall on the US-Mexico border, he sent his Homeland Security secretary John Kelly, and State Secretary Rex Tillerson, to give assurances to Mexico that contradicted his own stance.
So, when will the world have a chance to see the usual mature way of conducting diplomacy by the US government?
Vint Chavala
