Trump’s “Maximum Leverage” Strategy Yields Sweeping Victories on Trade, Peace

In less than 48 hours, President Donald Trump fundamentally reshaped U.S.-E.U. trade relations to be more favorable to the United States and staved off yet another escalating conflict in Asia — all while on a trip to Scotland.

The centerpiece of Trump’s latest triumphs is a landmark trade deal reached between the United States and the European Union that resets the entire transatlantic economic relationship. After months of tough negotiating and a looming August 1 tariff hike, the Trump administration secured a sweeping agreement that imposes a 15 percent tariff on most E.U. exports to the U.S., a significant jump from current levels but lower than the 30 percent Trump had threatened. In return, the European Union committed to hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments in the U.S., including major energy purchases, defense spending, and financial sector contributions.

The deal represents a full-throated vindication of Trump’s long-standing position on trade. For decades, the U.S. trade deficit with Europe has been treated as a benign fact of globalization. Trump rejected that premise, and now even Europe is admitting he was right. It was a rare win-win for the United States, where the government will take in more in tariff revenue even as European companies invest in creating American jobs.

In announcing the deal, E.U. President Ursula von der Leyen said that, “The starting point was an imbalance, a surplus on our side and a deficit on the U.S. side. And we wanted to rebalance trade relations.” In effect, von der Leyen was acknowledging what Trump had said all along – that the U.S. trade deficit with the E.U. is unfair to American businesses and workers, and it’s past time to level the playing field.

As one ambassador more colorfully put it in a quote to The Financial Times, “Trump worked out exactly where our pain threshold is.”

That statement captures the essence of the Trump approach. While past administrations politely asked for better terms and were laughed out of the room, Trump applied pressure. He forced a choice: either accept tariffs across the board or come to the table and negotiate a fairer deal. The E.U. blinked first, and Trump proved that access to the American market is valuable enough to extract concessions.

The European deal also closely follows another key breakthrough – an economic agreement with Japan announced earlier this week. The Japan deal includes a reduction in U.S. tariffs on some Japanese auto tariffs in exchange for a $550 billion commitment from Tokyo for infrastructure, energy, and technology investments in the United States. The structure of the Japan-E.U. Deals is a testament to Trump’s basic philosophy that if a country wants access to the American market, it must provide tangible economic value in return.

Critics on the Left and in the corporate media once claimed that Trump’s tariff threats would alienate allies and tank the global economy. But the opposite has happened. The world’s largest economies are now falling in line because Trump has made clear that fair treatment is the price of continued partnership with the United States.

At the same time, Trump demonstrated his foreign policy acumen on a different front in Southeast Asia. Late last week, conflict erupted between Thailand and Cambodia after a land mine exploded along the border, wounding five Thai soldiers. Both nations accused the other of sparking the violence, which quickly escalated. Over the span of several days, at least 35 people were killed, and more than 260,000 civilians were displaced as fighting intensified.

The international community urged calm, but it was Trump who forced results. Rather than dispatching diplomats for endless peace talks, the president used the most powerful weapon in his arsenal: trade. He publicly threatened to halt ongoing trade negotiations with both countries unless they agreed to an immediate ceasefire. That pressure worked. Within 72 hours, both Thailand and Cambodia accepted a U.S.-brokered ceasefire deal, bringing an end to hostilities and allowing displaced families to begin returning to their homes.

This is how a dealmaker handles foreign policy. Trump understood that both countries wanted access to the U.S. market, and he leveraged that desire to stop the bloodshed. Once again, diplomacy backed by leverage led to peace.

This diplomatic success comes on the heels of Trump’s earlier foreign policy wins this year, including de-escalating tensions between India and Pakistan and a bold U.S.-Israeli operation that neutralized key components of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. These actions have not only prevented wider conflict but have reasserted American strength on the world stage in a way that’s measurable and immediate in the aftermath of the Biden years.

Compare this record to the dire predictions made by Democrats and media pundits in both 2016 and 2024. They warned that Trump’s unorthodox trade policies would cause economic devastation, and that his confrontational diplomacy would provoke wars. But here we are in mid-2025, and the facts tell a different story. Trade imbalances are being corrected in America’s favor, major powers are investing in our economy, and regional conflicts are being defused before they spiral out of control.

What we are witnessing is a continuation and acceleration of the foreign policy revolution Trump began in his first term. Then, as now, he rejected the failed consensus of endless negotiations and toothless diplomacy. He embraced the reality that America has leverage – and that leverage should be used to protect American interests and promote global stability without apology.

Shane Harris is the Editor in Chief of AMAC Newsline. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.