What a relief. No one cares anyway.

Perhaps you would like to give us an example of the perfect socialist utopia with ideal leadership since so far you have bored us all half to death with your Trumpophobia and Nazi paranoia.

I see Mexico caved and gave him what he wanted regarding the border.

Bloke is awesome.

The US definitely was lots of leverage in terms of trade agreements and the twisting of arms that hadn't been used as a strategy until Trump. It's hard to know how these things will pan out, but it's certainly a tool in the toolbox.

Perhaps because I won't be diverted?

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

Explanations are simply being polite!

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.

The biggest bully in the playground always has leverage doesn't he? Until a bigger bully comes along and then those he has been bullying tend to take delight in seeing him face his comeuppance.

That bigger bully may well turn out to be China in the not too distant future and other countries will undoubtedly have long memories. It's always been best to leave friends behind you and not force things through your strength.

Not for nothing is it said that bullies, like cheats, never prosper for long.

In the meantime trade wars and sabre rattling scare markets and raise tensions, without actually benefiting anyone.

Even in this latest episode with Mexico it is far from clear what has actually happened and whether Trump has backed down on his tariff proposals because of internal pressures from those who understand the impact on US consumers and not because any "deal" has been done.

Finding a way to stem the flow of migrants from the south is in both country's interests so it makes sense to find ways to co-operate. That flow has increased almost certainly, in my opinion, because of Trump and the fear among intending migrants that the border will be slammed shut in some way so they need to act now, or never. That there is a current crisis is obvious. How much that has been caused by Trump's rhetoric is not so clear.

It's got worse ever since he started to bang on about his ridiculous "wall", which is not, I think, a co-incidence. There are much better ways to handle this than winding up your political base with sound bites.

For the avoidance of doubt any comments in response to a previous post are directed to its ideas and not at any, or all, posters personally.