FT Reveals How Trump's Behind-the-scenes Diplomacy Works
9- 16.12.2025, 20:08
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Traditional institutions like the State Department are being sidelined.
Transactional deals have taken a key role in US diplomacy under President Donald Trump, as foreign nations offer resources, investment or loyalty in exchange for support, the Financial Times writes, speaking to sources and analysts.
The focus of Trump's policy is on what the US can get from other countries, including critical minerals and investments. In this scenario, diplomacy becomes a kind of supply game, the publication notes. "Everything is conditional [with Trump]. You don't get anything if you don't invest in the game," a Dubai-based investor source told the newspaper.
Examples of such diplomacy include Argentina, Pakistan, and Switzerland. Decisions on White House support are influenced by personal contacts, gifts and lucrative offers, among other things. "Undesirable consequences" were faced by "those who offered too little or refused to express admiration."
Brazil and India failed. The former refused to drop charges against former president Jair Bolsonaro, a suspected coup attempt, while the latter offered "insufficient praise" for the Republican's ceasefire with Pakistan, the FT writes.
FT notes that personal connections are particularly important in Trump's diplomacy today: during the American leader's second term, the traditional institutions that underpinned US foreign policy - like the State Department - are receding into the background, giving way to the president's tight circle of personal friends, business partners and relatives.
Together with the former processes and institutions, the usual "hierarchy of political interactions" and channels of "advice and control" are disappearing, replaced by "personality-based politics," one source, a former military officer, said.
At the same time, the circle of people close to Trump is "surprisingly small," a U.S. official said. Diplomacy with the US is conducted through so-called "back channels":
Special envoy to the US president Steve Whitkoff:
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack;
businessman Jared Kushner, husband of Trump's daughter Ivanka;
senior adviser for Arab and Middle Eastern affairs Massad Boulos, Trump's father-in-law and father of his other daughter's spouse, Tiffany.
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