How we lose even when the great negotiator wins

With respect to negotiations, President Trump may be correct in the small that he can negotiate better deals than we have in the past. However, he is grossly wrong in the large.

He claims to be a master negotiator and may even be skilled in bilateral negotiations. It is easy to see his tactics - intimidation to the point of bullying, threatening and signaling willingness to walk away when a deal does not yield maximum gain.

However, that is not where we find ourselves in a post-World War II world. Multilateral treaties have made the world more stable, peaceful and even prosperous according to many observers of global affairs.

In multiparty negotiations, no single party can hope to achieve the maximum benefit they might expect from bilateral negotiations. Countries agree to the outcome of such negotiations because all parties are left better off. Any foregone gains that might have been achieved through a series of bilateral deals are more than outweighed by the larger gains for all.

President Trump apparently fails to grasp the importance of solid multilateral arrangements - such as the Iran Nuclear Deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), NATO and even global trade itself. He seems resolute in blowing them up so that he can engage in bilateral negotiations, which apparently is the only form of negotiations he knows.

But multilateral agreements are truly a case where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If President Trump transforms our relationships with other countries into a series of bilateral arrangements, we may find ourselves worse off in the long run due to increased global instability, lower economic growth for all and diminished prospects for world peace. Perhaps he needs a less egocentric and myopic view of the world.

Lynn Jensen

Arlington Heights