When French President Emmanuel Macron jetted into Washington for meetings at the White House in February, President Donald Trump was emphatic; I can solve the three year long war in Ukraine. “I do deals. My whole life is deals,” Trump said during a joint press event with Macron, “That’s all I know, is deals, And I know when somebody wants to make it and when somebody doesn’t.”
Two months later, however, and Trump faces not just one “deal” either on life support or six-feet under, but three.
Trump’s highest profile foray into the world of diplomacy, of course, has been Ukraine. The president campaigned on ending the conflict in 24 hours, a boast that might always have been ridiculous but underlined his urgency to do what he thought Joe Biden should have done long ago: pressure the Russians and Ukrainians into a peace settlement. To his credit, Trump came out with a bang as soon as he took the oath of office, scheduling calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and dispatching his top foreign policy advisers to foreign capitals in an attempt to establish short-term ceasefires.
Yet even the canniest mediators can only achieve so much if the conditions for a lasting peace aren’t there. Ultimately it’s those directly involved in the conflict that will determine success or failure.
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