All of Trump’s meetings with foreign leaders in order of awkwardness

It has been nearly a month since President Trump was sworn into office. In that time, he has received four foreign leaders in the White House.

During the campaign, foreign politicians were not shy of publicly criticising him, but will this affect their relationships now he is president? Here, in order of increasing awkwardness, are the four so far.

4. Benjamin Netanyahu: Bad bromance

New best buds Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump share a demure smile. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Benjamin Netanyahu must have spent the first seven years of his premiership wishing for a Republican president, thanks to his famously strained relationship with Barack Obama, so imagine his dismay when Trump secured the nomination. Gone must have been his dreams of deep philosophical discussions.

Before the meeting, Trump’s position on Israel was unclear, as was the influence of Steve Bannon on his policy regarding the Middle East. Trump had made broad gestures of a desire to work for peace, putting forward son-in-law Jared Kushner to head efforts towards one of the trickiest reconciliations in international politics.

This lack of clarity might have made Netanyahu nervous, but it did not show. Their press conference was a giddy display from both men, clearly happy to build a relationship that appears to trade an uncritical attitude towards Israeli settlement expansion for support in Trump’s offensive against the Iran nuclear deal.

Israel finds itself in better relations with the gulf states than ever before, united by hatred of Iran, and may take the opportunity to pursue aggressive expansion into the occupied Palestinian territories, buoyed by the prospect of lessened resistance. If Netanyahu to has Trump onside, resistance even from the UN could be tempered. And it looks as though that is exactly what he has got.

3. Justin Trudeau: The friendly neighbour

“I want to lead!” “No, I want to lead!” (Photo credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Either due to Trudeau’s Action-Man-like coolness, or Trump’s ambivalence towards his northern border, this meeting of international neighbours comes in at a relaxed third place. This was perhaps surprising, given that Trudeau is the most liberal of any of these leaders, but right from the pair’s initial hyper-macho handshake ritual, the meeting had the air of two men brought together to have photos taken, stick rigidly to a script, and then leave.

The handshake drew serious attention on social media, after Trudeau first placed his hand on Trump’s shoulder, seemingly to brace himself against the latter’s tendency to pull unsuspecting handshakees towards him in a jerking motion of fragile masculine domination. Trudeau showed himself to be no pushover, but he hardly made the kind of principled stand many of his admirers might have hoped for.

Although seen as an outspoken guardian of the liberal values many feel are being abandoned to global right-wing populism, he has repeatedly failed to criticise Trump explicitly, even when the infamous 2005 tapes of comments made to Access Hollywood reporter Billy Bush were released.

They both know that their countries’ interests are best served by maintaining co-operation on, for example, energy and trade. As such, their joint statement highlighted their desire to see the Keystone XL pipeline completed, and Trump assured his counterpart that he would only ‘tweak’ their relationship under NAFTA. Trudeau even refused to condemn Trump’s travel ban on nine majority-muslim countries, saying: “The last thing Canadians expect is for me to come down and lecture another country on how they choose to govern themselves.”

2. Shinzo Abe: 19 seconds of pain

For a germaphobe, Donald Trump really overdid the handshake with Shinzo Abe. (Photo credit:  BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

As awkward handshakes go, this one was special. Trump’s 19-second clasping maneouvre appeared to be half for the cameras and half to impose an early authority of the relationship. It earned a bemused look from the recovering Abe, who clearly remained unaffected as he subsequently took a leading role in their press conference – a veritable schooling in diplomacy for the new president.

Perhaps Trump, uncharacteristically, felt an obligation to defer to Abe after accusing Japan of not paying enough for their defence and of rigging markets during his election campaign. Or, more likely, he is keen to keep Japan onside as a key ally against China, the object of his serious obsession, and a tempestuous North Korea.

The pair have met before. Abe was the first foreign leader (no, Nigel Farage does not count) to visit then-president-elect Trump. He was there to seek assurances on trade and military co-operation. Unfortunately for Abe, once Trump became president he almost immediately pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

However, there is no sign that the US-Japanese military relationship, with its roots going back to the end of the Second World War, will be abandoned, but rather reconfigured, which suits both men’s interests. Japan’s desire to increase its military autonomy aligns with Trump’s message that America will begin paying less for other countries’ security.

1. Theresa May: The especially awkward relationship

Thatcher and Reagan they are not. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

The top spot for awkwardness can be awarded to none but our own Theresa May. Her visit produced a series of eye-watering moments: her stuttering: “Mr President, I think you confirmed that you are 100 per cent behind Nato,” seemingly nervous of an unfavourable response; the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg’s tricky question (and Trump’s “There goes that relationship” retort) and the infamous hand-holding incident. Before she had even landed back in the UK, May was caught up in scandal as Trump announced his draconian immigration ban.

May’s nervousness can be forgiven (if not forgotten). It was the famously capricious Trump’s first time receiving a foreign leader as president, and she desperately needed it to go well. Brexit is forcing her to look to America for support, hoping to strengthen her hand in the coming negotiations, and build stronger international relationships in Britain’s new era post-EU membership

But if the other leaders present Trump with possible allies against countries he forsees will present challenges (indeed this seems  a reasonable prism through which to view these early meetings: Netanyahu against Iran, Abe against China, Trudeau to smooth out his attacks on NAFTA and Mexico), what exactly did he have to gain from granting his first meeting to May?

Perhaps it was out of respect for the ‘special relationship’ we hear so much about, but Trump is not a conventional politician of the kind to look to old alliances before present opportunities. Perhaps in the face of global disapproval he needed someone fairly prominent on the world stage to appear friendly with – reaching out for a hand to hold on the terrifying slope of international diplomacy. Presumably Vladimir Putin was unavailable.

But what if Trump sees the UK as an ally against a challenge? It may not be a military threat such as China, or so headline-grabbing as his attacks on Mexico, but some of his most vocal foreign critics are from the European Union, notably Angela Merkel. A vaguely liberal, aggressively globalising free-trade organisation, the EU represents several things Trump doesn’t like very much, and may seek to oppose him in some ways.

May could provide the long bridge over the Atlantic – useful to both sides but walked over by everyone. And if a Marine Le Pen-shaped upset occurs in the French presidential election in April, the special relationship could be abandoned for a more ideologically similar partnership against Merkel and the EU. Then the pair’s second encounter, at Trump’s planned state visit, could end up being even more awkward than their first.

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