This week, Trump upended a long-held tenet of American international policy: to act favorably towards one's allies, and to act unfavorably towards one's enemies. The President vowed to punish American allies economically through a 10% tariff on aluminum and a 25% tariff on steel. Within twelve hours, Trump stated that he would grant North Korea's Kim Jong Un a presidential meeting without detailed preconditions. This break from tradition, despite the dramatic news headlines that it inspired, is in line with Trump's individual brand of obstinacy and unpredictability. North Korean expert Gordon Chang has stated that the events of this week have proven that Trump is before anything else a "willful president," and that, "what Trump has said to everybody with the tariff decision, with the impulsive decision to talk to Kim Jong Un, is 'I don't care, I am following my instincts.'"

It is uncertain, however, how Trump's instincts will play out within the international community. Eleven allies of the United States, including Japan, Mexico, and Canada, signed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on the same day as Trump's tariff announcement. The broad trade agreement among American allies has brought the pledged nations closer together, while excluding the United States both economically and ideologically. In response to the signing of the TPP and in anticipation of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations, Trump's "no exceptions" approach to the tariff plan suddenly shifted. Less than a day after White House advisor Peter Navarro affirmed that Trump's tariffs would be exemption-free, Trump tweeted that Canada and Mexico may be granted exemptions in the case of "a new and fair NAFTA agreement." On Friday, Trump went on to float the possibility of a similar deal for Australia. Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and the European Union are demanding the same exemptions for themselves. Canada in particular has been extremely vocal about the consequences that the U.S. will face if it puts the tariffs on steel and aluminum into place. The United States imported $3.69 billion in steel and iron mill products from Canada in 2017, and exported $4.35 billion to Canada in the same year. The trade surplus that the U.S. currently enjoys with Canada would be imperiled by Trump's tariffs as they now stand.

As pressing as the trade tariffs and NAFTA are, far more public anxiety has arisen in response to Trump's agreement to meet one on one with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. No U.S. president has ever met with a sitting North Korean ruler, and no negotiations for disarmament have come close to succeeding (North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003). If the meeting with Kim goes poorly, then both nuclear nations will be on even worse terms with one another, and the relationship is already tense. In a bizarre rant at a Pennsylvania rally this week, Trump stated that he believes North Korea wants peace in exchange for aid, but also declared: "Hey, who knows what's going to happen? I may leave fast or we may sit down and make the greatest deal for the world."