World Leaders Are Unsettled By President Trump's 'Bluntness'

U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order cutting regulations, accompanied by small business leaders at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington U.S., January 30, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Wall Street Journal: Trump’s Bluntness Unsettles World Leaders

Exchanges with Australia, Mexico show allies and foes that new president ‘doesn’t feel confined by what he inherited’

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s blunt, win-the-deal approach to diplomacy has U.S. adversaries and some allies struggling to assess its impact for their countries and puzzling over how to react if they land in the new American leader’s crosshairs next.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who started his first day on the job Thursday, steps into a role of managing the effects of Mr. Trump’s aggressive style of diplomacy and carrying out his vision of an “America first” foreign policy. That worldview has sparked concern among traditional allies as Mr. Trump has already begun setting a series of jarring foreign-policy actions in motion since taking office.

In a round of phone calls on Saturday with foreign leaders, Mr. Trump held a conversation with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in which he questioned an agreement reached under the Obama administration to resettle about 1,250 refugees in the U.S., calling it a “dumb deal.” In another call, Mr. Trump urged Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto to get control of the “bad hombres” within his country, a reference one White House official said was to drug cartels.

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WNU Editor: Some leaders are unsettled .... but some are probably happy to be dealing with a President who is driven to produce results.

Update: I agree .... The method to President Trump's madness (Politico).