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Quick Take | Trump-Kim summit 2019: A meeting of ‘two stubborn toddlers’ hoping to play each other for suckers?
- Both sides came to the table with what they wanted, but neither wanted to compromise; each side miscalculated the other
- A hastily planned second meeting was never going to end well when neither side could even agree on the basics
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US President Donald Trump met his match in North Korea’s Kim Jong-un at the negotiating table in Hanoi, Vietnam.
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Over the last few weeks, there has been much discussion about the highly anticipated meeting between Trump and Kim, and speculation about what the outcome would be. The show started with Trump taking to Twitter, as usual, to share his hopes for a “very productive summit”, while Kim’s long-haul train ride to Vietnam also picked up steam on social media.
Both sides made it seem like they were looking to come to the negotiating table. Trump shared his goals for the meeting on Wednesday, saying, “Kim Jong-un and I will try very hard to work something out on denuclearisation and then making North Korea an economic powerhouse. I believe that China, Russia, Japan and South Korea will be very helpful!”
Fast-forward to today, when it looks like both sides took a page out of The Art of the Deal and stood their ground like two stubborn toddlers unwilling to compromise.
No agreement in Hanoi for Trump and Kim, but locals are delighted
Their confidence – and more candidly their arrogance – led to a breakdown in discussions. Both sides came to the table with what they wanted, but neither wanted to compromise; each side miscalculated the other.
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