As a businessman, Donald Trump saw strength in his willingness to keep multiple balls in the air and change approach as they fell. In international relations, that unpredictability may be proving a liability.
In recent days, Trump's sudden policy reversals on everything from tariffs to nuclear nonproliferation have prompted complaints from allies and rivals alike. Such flexible negotiating tactics — laid out in Trump's 1987 book "The Art of the Deal" — have led them to question America's reliability as a negotiating and, in some cases, security partner.
With defense ministers from around the world convening Friday for the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore, questions around U.S. reliability are likely to rival familiar concerns about China's growing military assertiveness.