Indeed. Many of us who proudly served the US government and the American people overseas used to say: “Hey, we don’t need to speak loud, we’re the United States of America.” And if we weren’t always patient, we generally understood the power relation. If we don’t, particularly with respect to the PRC, the results are unlikely to be good for us. Hence, the importance of sound, competent ,and preferably quiet diplomacy. No further comment on what currently holds.
I'm confused. You began your piece by citing the odious Kevin O'Leary musing that America has to “train China like a puppy” but then you proceeded to talk a lot about the puppy trainer barking menacingly.
With respect, as every dog owner knows, that's not at all how you train a puppy and I doubt that's what O'Leary meant. Puppy training consists mostly of rewards in a friendly situation, not of threats and punishments in an adversarial situation.
That said, I agree that beating one's chest and making demands which, in the eyes of our interlocutors, probably typifies the bully boy approach is not effective. But we as a country have followed that self-destructive blueprint for many decades, especially in our foreign policy, and it is silly to suggest that this was a Trump invention or even the typical approach of people in the business world.
Back in 2016, due to my desire to understand the new President and the world he came from, I forced myself to read a couple of Trump's books, including Art of the Deal, and I found many more mentions of carrots than sticks. There were a whole lot of psychological tactics in there as well, of course.
But, yes, dealing with certain cultures, especially Asian ones, in a barking dog is self-defeating. Totally agree.
Sorry if I was confusing. Let me clarify. If you listen to O’Leary’s CNN, basically what I heard him say is that China needs to be treated as we would treat a puppy in an attempt to get the puppy to submit. Slap the puppy, in other words be tough with China, was an off handed comment by someone that I thought missed the mark in terms of how to deal with people in general, the Chinese in particular, let alone dogs. Slapping or barking, doesn’t matter, the analogy is that an aggressive approach is not necessarily the best approach as my OBO Collegue learned. My point is that in this case, and as recently lamented by Trump, dealing with Xi is difficult. And by imposing unreasonable tariffs is not the way to go.
As to Trump’s conciliatory approach to deal making, rather than anything his ghost writer described as truth, I believe his many lawsuits, unpaid contract work, bankruptcies and lies are a more accurate measure of of the man.
Steve, a great cautionary tale. One thing every Administration has to re-learn, and especially this one, is that foreign affairs isn't the business world. What works in the New York real estate market may or may not be effective when negotiating, say, tariffs. We'll soon know.
I recall reading somewhere a Chinese proverb, “who endures, conquers.”
Indeed. Many of us who proudly served the US government and the American people overseas used to say: “Hey, we don’t need to speak loud, we’re the United States of America.” And if we weren’t always patient, we generally understood the power relation. If we don’t, particularly with respect to the PRC, the results are unlikely to be good for us. Hence, the importance of sound, competent ,and preferably quiet diplomacy. No further comment on what currently holds.
I'm confused. You began your piece by citing the odious Kevin O'Leary musing that America has to “train China like a puppy” but then you proceeded to talk a lot about the puppy trainer barking menacingly.
With respect, as every dog owner knows, that's not at all how you train a puppy and I doubt that's what O'Leary meant. Puppy training consists mostly of rewards in a friendly situation, not of threats and punishments in an adversarial situation.
That said, I agree that beating one's chest and making demands which, in the eyes of our interlocutors, probably typifies the bully boy approach is not effective. But we as a country have followed that self-destructive blueprint for many decades, especially in our foreign policy, and it is silly to suggest that this was a Trump invention or even the typical approach of people in the business world.
Back in 2016, due to my desire to understand the new President and the world he came from, I forced myself to read a couple of Trump's books, including Art of the Deal, and I found many more mentions of carrots than sticks. There were a whole lot of psychological tactics in there as well, of course.
But, yes, dealing with certain cultures, especially Asian ones, in a barking dog is self-defeating. Totally agree.
Sorry if I was confusing. Let me clarify. If you listen to O’Leary’s CNN, basically what I heard him say is that China needs to be treated as we would treat a puppy in an attempt to get the puppy to submit. Slap the puppy, in other words be tough with China, was an off handed comment by someone that I thought missed the mark in terms of how to deal with people in general, the Chinese in particular, let alone dogs. Slapping or barking, doesn’t matter, the analogy is that an aggressive approach is not necessarily the best approach as my OBO Collegue learned. My point is that in this case, and as recently lamented by Trump, dealing with Xi is difficult. And by imposing unreasonable tariffs is not the way to go.
As to Trump’s conciliatory approach to deal making, rather than anything his ghost writer described as truth, I believe his many lawsuits, unpaid contract work, bankruptcies and lies are a more accurate measure of of the man.
Steve, a great cautionary tale. One thing every Administration has to re-learn, and especially this one, is that foreign affairs isn't the business world. What works in the New York real estate market may or may not be effective when negotiating, say, tariffs. We'll soon know.