Trump nets wins in international relations as he prepares to welcome Bibi to White House

International relations have entered the limelight three weeks into President Donald Trump’s second term, with the president leveraging some of the United States’s closest allies into trade agreements while simultaneously extending invites to others to visit the White House.

After securing agreements with Mexico and Canada to postpone the tariffs he issued against the countries for 30 days in exchange for concessions to reduce illegal immigration and drug trafficking, Trump is scheduled to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba visiting the White House on Friday. 

Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu will be Trump’s first with a world leader at the White House since he moved back to Washington after his inauguration last month.

Netanyahu being Trump’s first foreign head of state or government meeting at the White House “is a powerful signal to both shared adversaries and shared supposed allies,” according to Foundation for Defense of Democracies senior adviser Richard Goldberg.

“The clearest message is one of closeness and unity being sent to Iran and its proxies — a major departure from [former President Joe Biden‘s] administration, which encouraged Iranian escalation by showing distance between Washington and Jerusalem,” Goldberg, a former Trump national security aide, told the Washington Examiner. “When you think about the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, or countries like Ireland, South Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Spain, which are at the tip of the spear of lawfare against the United States and Israel, all countries are being put on notice.”

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee similarly welcomed Netanyahu’s White House meeting as “a clear sign of the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship as the two allies work together to seize opportunities in the region that will strengthen both nations and confront challenges posed by Iran and its proxies,” per AIPAC spokesman Marshall Wittmann.

But the meeting, which comes amid Trump’s negotiations regarding tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China, coincides with the ongoing but fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.

The ceasefire deal has been extended since it was struck in the last days of Biden’s administration with help from Trump’s transition team, but tensions remain high in the Middle East and, among respective supporters and detractors, in the U.S. after 16 months of war.

Phase one of the ceasefire deal included the release of 33 Israeli hostages and more Palestinian prisoners, in addition to Israel withdrawing from most of Gaza and an increase in humanitarian aid, and is poised to expire on Feb. 18. The second stage is set to include the release of younger Israeli male hostages and Israel agreeing to end the war. The third phrase would mark the end of the war, with bodies being exchanged, Israel withdrawing from Gaza completely, and the reconstruction of the enclave beginning.

American Enterprise Institute foreign and defense senior fellow Danielle Pletka predicted Netanyahu would press Trump to continue the first phase as opposed to moving on to the second phase, “which is being urged by Hamas and Qatar,” a negotiation mediator.

“He wants to keep his coalition together and get more hostages before thinking about the future of Gaza,” Pletka told the Washington Examiner. “Trump will want to discuss his idea of deporting Palestinians from Gaza. And they’ll both want to talk about restarting Israeli-Saudi rapprochement.”

Taking questions from reporters as he signed executive orders at the White House on Monday, Trump repeated that he had “no assurances” that the ceasefire “will hold.”

“I mean, I’ve seen people brutalized. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it,” he said in the Oval Office before appearing to be open to Netanyahu annexing the West Bank.

While Trump’s first two weeks at the White House were dominated by domestic policy, he also withdrew the U.S. from international agreements and organizations such as the Paris climate deal and the World Health Organization and cemented U.S. investment in artificial intelligence in a race with China to develop the technology.

The president also appeared via video link during last month’s World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where he said the U.S. would be “stronger” and “wealthier” as a result of his policy agenda.

“Our country will soon be stronger, wealthier, and more united than ever before, and the entire planet will be more peaceful and prosperous as a result of this incredible momentum and what we’re doing and going to do,” Trump told that meeting before informing them he would be asking NATO members to increase their defense spending from 2% of GDP to 5%.

That was before last weekend’s pivot toward tariffs after Trump’s promise to impose duties on Canada, Mexico, and China, on Day One slipped into Day 15 and before he provided Canada and Mexico with a monthlong delay.

On Monday, Canada and Mexico agreed to implement more measures at their respective borders to counter illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

“Canada will implement their $1.3 billion Border plan, and as per Prime Minister [Justin] Trudeau, will be reinforcing the Border with new choppers, technology and personnel, enhanced coordination with our American partners, and increased resources to stop the flow of fentanyl,” Trump wrote on social media. “Nearly 10,000 frontline personnel are, and will be, working on protecting the Border.”

Mexico announced its own troop deployment, but Trudeau additionally committed to appointing a fentanyl czar, designating drug cartels as terrorists, and creating a Canada-U.S. Joint Strike Force.

For Steve Kamin, an American Enterprise Institute senior fellow who researches trade policy, Trump’s tariff policies were underpinned by the president’s desire to underscore “his power, and his ability to wield power, and his willingness to wield power.”

“The markets tanked, but then they started to recover,” Kamin told the Washington Examiner. “They’re taking every one of these cases where the other country backs down as evidence that the Trump tariffs may not be as bad as they think.”

Trump’s foreign policy pivot will continue with meetings next week with King Abdullah II of Jordan, as well as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this month.

Trump has spoken with many other heads of state or government since the start of the second term too, mostly from the Middle East, from Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, King Hamad Bin Isa al Khalifa of Bahrain, and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.