"The Art of the Deal?" Maybe but that's the Las Vegas way where Donald Trump learned his trade. Will being unpredictable as in a poker game be what brings results on the international stage? It is utterly doubtful. We learned in the 1930s after the Smoot Hawley Tariff Act, that trade wars do not invite concessions but retaliations. Is military might more effective? It certainly was against Germany and Japan in the 1940s when the US put all its strength into the war. It wasn't latter in the 1970s against Vietnam and in the 2000s against Afghanistan when this wasn't the case.
Unlike what we are being told by Trump, today the US benefit mightily from the supremacy of the US dollar. The fragmentation of the current financial system may be unavoidable sooner or later, but in the short term it would augur the beginning of the end for Bretton wood and the Petro-dollar. A war with Iran would start a process with no end in sight.
A warning from the Middle East: Think carefully before summoning the genie, for you may be granted your wish!
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