Trump's Dealmaking Record: Mixed Results Ahead of Midterm Elections

WASHINGTON: Trump Tower had just opened and "The Art of the Deal" three years from publication when 38-year-old Donald Trump suggested he could negotiate Russian arms control better than Ronald Reagan. "It would take an hour-and-a-half to learn everything there is to learn about missiles," Trump told The Washington Post in 1984. It was all about dealmaking prowess. "You either have it, or you don't," he said. Before there was much talk of being a personal brand, Trump had landed on his: the consummate, swashbuckling, never-lose negotiator. It was an image he cultivated in the New York tabloids and later on reality TV, repeating it so often that, to his supporters, perception became reality. Now, as he zigzags the country for Republican candidates, from Florida to Alaska, Trump is exhorting voters to again embrace him as an unqualified success in a midterm election that has become a referendum on his presidency and his record as a dealmaker. An examination of Trump's dealmaking, both in his time in the White House and in the private sector, shows decidedly mixed results. "He's not as good at this as he thinks he is," said Christopher Preble, senior fellow and director of the Reimagining US Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Center, an international security think tank. He insisted that Iran would be defeated in mere weeks. He later brokered what he called a "great" ceasefire, though it quickly fizzled. Trump repeatedly has said Tehran is desperate to make a deal to end fighting. That also proved untrue. He promised to negotiate an end to Russia's war in Ukraine in a day. He announced an agreement that he said meant Moscow and Kyiv would not attack each other's energy infrastructure. That pause never happened, even as the president insisted it would hold. "I said, 'You agreed,'" Trump said in defending his assertions. "That's why." Trump promised he would use the threat of tariffs to negotiate the best trade deals ever, only to offer unilateral duties nearly the whole world over. Those import taxes have raised domestic prices and sparked trade wars with America's close friends, including Canada. The levies brought in more than $83 billion this year through September, much of it paid for by American consumers and still far less federal revenue than Trump suggested. Even on less consequential matters, Trump's deals have foundered. He said he had a "guy who's unbelievable at doing swimming pools" who could fix the Lincoln Memorial's Reflecting Pool for a little more than $1 million. The cost has been closer to $20 million so far.