One-Sentence Summary:
David E. Sanger?s article examines President Donald Trump?s increasingly erratic second-term foreign policy, noting a few headline successes but emphasizing how impulsive reversals, personal grievances, and unclear objectives unsettle allies and complicate crises from Canada and China to Venezuela and Ukraine.
Article Summary:
Nine months into his second term, President Trump?s approach to the world has intensified longstanding patterns of volatility. David E. Sanger argues that Trump?s foreign policy now operates with even fewer guardrails, producing a mixture of tactical wins and destabilizing swings that leave partners guessing and adversaries probing for advantage.
Sanger credits several notable achievements. NATO allies in Europe have accelerated defense spending increases beyond what many expected a year ago, a goal long sought by U.S. presidents that Trump pressed more forcefully. In the Middle East, he helped broker the release of 20 living hostages from Hamas and a fragile cease-fire in Gaza, navigating Israeli reluctance to secure the deal. These outcomes show Trump?s talent for sensing leverage points and applying pressure quickly when an opportunity appears.
But the piece foregrounds a deepening unpredictability. After a seemingly productive meeting with Canada?s prime minister, Mark Carney, Trump abruptly froze trade talks and imposed a new 10 percent tariff on Canadian goods, angry over a Canadian television ad that used Ronald Reagan?s 1980s warning about tariffs. The move, Sanger notes, risks higher costs for American consumers and underscores how personal pique can drive consequential policy shifts.
On China, Trump lurched from fury to flexibility in days. He reacted harshly when Beijing curtailed U.S. access to rare earth minerals, then moderated his tone en route to Asia, signaling that both sides might make concessions. Negotiators soon reported progress, illustrating how his oscillations can sometimes deliver movement but at the cost of uncertainty for markets and allies.
The administration?s expanding military posture around Venezuela is presented as especially opaque. Trump has dispatched an aircraft carrier and ordered strikes on boats he said were tied to drug trafficking, yet has not clearly articulated legal or strategic objectives. Publicly framed as counternarcotics, officials privately link the pressure to an effort to dislodge Nicol?s Maduro. Civilian deaths and legal concerns have mounted, intensifying questions about ends, means, and accountability.
Ukraine policy is portrayed as a case study in whiplash. Trump has swung between echoing Russian narratives and considering giving Kyiv long-range Tomahawk missiles — then abandoning the idea after a call from Vladimir Putin. He has alternated among a cease-fire, a comprehensive peace, and renewed confidence that Ukraine could retake all occupied territory, before returning to support for a cease-fire that would freeze current lines. European leaders have repeatedly rushed to Washington to steady the course.
Throughout, diplomats enter meetings with unusual caution, likening the atmosphere to navigating ?unexploded dynamite.? Sanger quotes analysts who say Trump?s method is driven more by instinct, ego, grievance, and the desire to claim credit for ending conflicts than by a consistent strategy. The result, he argues, is a foreign policy whose successes are real but fragile, and whose reversals and improvisations risk confusion, legal controversy, and frayed alliances.
David E. Sanger. ?Trump, Long Erratic on the World Stage, Reaches a New Level.? The New York Times, October 26, 2025.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/26/us/politics/trump-erratic-foreign-policy.html
Key Takeaways:
- Trump?s second-term diplomacy mixes tangible wins with accelerating unpredictability.
- European defense spending increases and a Gaza hostage-release deal showcase his leverage-first style.
- Policy whiplash with Canada and China reflects how personal slights and rapid mood shifts shape decisions.
- The Venezuela buildup lacks transparent objectives, drawing legal and humanitarian concerns.
- Ukraine policy has seesawed among cease-fire, full peace, escalation, and freeze-in-place options.
- Allies and adversaries now plan around volatility as much as policy substance.
- Analysts say instinct and ego, rather than strategy, are the main drivers.