Global Movers 2018: The impulse president – Donald Trump

A respected defense secretary resigns in protest at his leader's foreign policy agenda, a major conflict is withdrawn from without consulting allies, the president's charitable foundation is accused of illegality and forced to close, a former key adviser appears in court, and the government is shut down for Christmas.

A dramatic year for most leaders. A few days in late December for U.S. President Donald Trump.

In 2018 Trump continued his wrecking ball approach to diplomacy, while the Democrats delivered a weighty midterm election blow to his administration's domestic agenda and the Mueller investigation gathered steam.

 

The world has never seen a leader quite like Trump, the president who has turned the international order on its head and stoked divisions at home in just two years in the White House. 

U.S. alliances are being split, multilateral agreements abandoned and a trade war waged.

In 2018 alone, Trump took the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, served notice on the INF missile treaty with Russia, announced a U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria and is expected to follow up with a drawdown in Afghanistan.

He lost a chief of staff, a secretary of state, a defense secretary, a national security adviser, an interior secretary, an attorney general, a U.S. ambassador to the UN, a top economic adviser, and a White House counsel – and those are just the departures in the top ranks.  

On the international stage, Trump held a landmark meeting with Democratic People's Republic of Korea leader Kim Jong Un, traded barbs with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron among others, and held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia remained on the president's mind throughout the year, with the Mueller investigation into alleged interference in the 2016 election and collusion with the Trump campaign racking up prosecutions and the presidential Twitter feed crying "WITCHHUNT" with increasing regularity. 

An aggressive trade policy saw tariffs imposed on China, Japan, Canada, Mexico, India and the European Union among others, leaving markets on edge – U.S. stocks slumped at the end of 2018 – while bearing some fruit for the president. Negotiations with China and the EU are ongoing, but a revised NAFTA – yet to be ratified – was agreed and a new bilateral trade deal with Republic of Korea was signed.

The good news story for Trump – a growing economy and falling unemployment – was eschewed in the run-up to the midterm elections, when the Supreme Court confirmation hearing of Brett Kavanaugh dominated airwaves and the president campaigned on his core issue of immigration in a year when observers were shocked by the family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The emphasis didn't help the Republicans electorally, as the party was routed in the House of Representatives – losing by over eight points in the nationwide vote – and gained only two Senate seats despite the electoral map heavily favoring the president's party.

The swing of support in suburban America – 51 percent of the U.S. electorate – towards the Democrats is a major warning sign for Trump as campaigning begins in earnest for the 2020 presidential campaign: challengers to Trump from within his own Republican Party, as well as independents and Democrats, are likely. 

Trump relishes a foil – often journalists in 2018 – but in the year ahead he'll to encounter more troublesome adversaries than rivals for the White House. A Democratic House of Representatives will change the dynamics of his presidency – a siege of investigations and legislative gridlock are in the cards, and the Mueller probe will move closer to conclusion.

With trade tensions yet to calm, warning signs flashing on the economy and the possibility of an impeachment attempt on the horizon, the Trump roller coaster won't slow in 2019. 

This is the last article of our "World Leaders" series, which takes a look at eight people who shaped the global political discourse in 2018. These figures dominated the year's headlines through high-profile appearances and maneuvering, forging new relationships and severing old ones. We've published the profiles of Kim Jong Un, Moon Jae-in, Shinzo Abe, Angela Merkel, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vladimir Putin, and Theresa May over the past days.