The Brian Mudd Show

The Brian Mudd Show

There are two sides to stories and one side to facts. That's Brian's mantra and what drives him to get beyond the headlines.Full Bio

 

 Trump’s Art of the Deal Pays Off Bigly – Top 3 Takeaways

 Trump’s Art of the Deal Pays Off Bigly – Top 3 Takeaways – February 4th, 2025 

  1. Let's make a deal. Anyone who’s familiar with Donald Trump knows that the man likes to make deals. After all he literally wrote the book on it. And as the fourth sentence in the Art of the Deal says... Deals are my art form. And maybe it’s the case that most people aren’t skilled at negotiation that they still don’t understand how Donald Trump operates. For example, as I illustrate in one of my Eight Keys for Success – The Power of Negotiation... Over 80% of the time you negotiate you’ll be successful in obtaining better terms. That applies to your credit cards, your salary, a car – you name it. But here’s the thing, 60% of adults don’t attempt to negotiate better terms when there’s the opportunity to do so. But while most people are either too shy to try or simply aren’t adept at negotiation President Trump most certainly is. As Trump proved during his first term as president and has wasted no time in proving his second time around, the power of negotiation applies to trade policy with other countries too. When President Trump promised that he’d apply tariffs to countries if they didn’t do what he asked to secure their borders and to help put an end to drug trafficking into the United States, I’m not sure what they were waiting for. Yes, Trump likes to talk but when it comes to policy, he’s proven he’ll always walk the walk. I can’t be sure why it is that Canada, China and Mexico somehow thought this time would have been different but nevertheless it isn’t. When President Trump signed the executive orders on Saturday putting tariffs in place to start Tuesday against the three countries, news of trade wars and higher prices for consumers (although as I indicated in yesterday’s Q&A the impact for the US economy even if all three were to go into place is often overstated) were everywhere. But where it wasn’t overstated is within those countries. China is greater than two times as reliant on the US for trade as the US is on China. For Mexico the impact is even more so with the country 4 times more reliant on us than we are on them...and the impact is greatest for Canada which is 4.5 times more reliant on the US for trade than the US is reliant on Canada. They probably would be better off by becoming the 51st state. What that equates to is leverage and that was on full display on Monday as... 
  2. Canada and Mexico raced to try to strike a deal with Trump to avoid the impact of the tariffs hitting their economies on Tuesday. As President Trump went on to say: I just spoke with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico. It was a very friendly conversation wherein she agreed to immediately supply 10,000 Mexican Soldiers on the Border separating Mexico and the United States. These soldiers will be specifically designated to stop the flow of fentanyl, and illegal migrants into our Country. We further agreed to immediately pause the anticipated tariffs for a one month period during which we will have negotiations headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and high-level Representatives of Mexico. I look forward to participating in those negotiations, with President Sheinbaum, as we attempt to achieve a 'deal' between our two Countries. And just like that you had a major win. On Saturday when Trump signed the order, Mexico wasn’t doing much of anything to curb illegal immigration and drug trafficking across their border. Today there are 10,000 troops in place and rather than just arriving at the border and posturing – the 1 month pause provides the incentive for Mexico to make sure their troops are truly doing the job of combating trafficking from entering our country. And it was about the time that the deal with Mexico was announced that we heard Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was on the phone seeking to strike a deal to avoid the tariffs too. By late afternoon, a 30 day pause on Canadian tariffs was stuck when Canada agreed to – in the words of Trudeau... We will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering. I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl and we will be backing it with $200 million. There are many ways that Donald Trump brings value to the United States as president, but the application of the Art of the Deal as illustrated here, is yet another significant example of how we’ve given up nothing to gain exactly what Trump wanted (it’s also a reminder about the power of negotiation). And of course that wasn’t all... 
  3. Donald Trump’s Panama Threat Starts Paying Off. That was a Newsweek headline yesterday that laid out how President Trump has already won a major victory on the Panama Canal. As the story goes on to say: Panama's President José Raúl Mulino has said the country will not renew a trade and development agreement with China after President Donald Trump accused the Chinese of controlling the Panama Canal. Panama has now announced it will withdraw from its initial agreement to be part of the Belt and Road Initiative and intends to work more closely with the U.S. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Mulino said his meeting with Rubio "paves the way" for building new relationships and increasing potential U.S. investments in Panama. So, think about this for a moment. No military action, no drama, no showdown with China. Just like that President Trump achieved his policy objective with the Panama Canal. In a matter of two days the Trump administration achieved three major foreign policy wins and as taxpayers it didn’t cost us anything (well, technically aside from the cost of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s flight to Panama). Stories talking of trade wars were being reported everywhere starting on Saturday. But truth be told Trump, who lest we forget built a real-estate empire that operates in 25 different countries, including within Canada, China, Mexico and Panama btw, doesn’t want a war – he just wants better deals for the United States. And that’s exactly what he’s delivering. President Trump has achieved more foreign policy victories during his first two weeks than the Biden administration did in its four years. There’s a lot of leverage that comes with controlling the largest economy in the world. President Trump is leveraging it for the benefit of Americans.  

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