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Trump’s Diplomatic Doubleheader

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tuesday

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at back-to-back Oval Office visits, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Japan, and Oman’s plan for the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. President Donald Trump had a packed diplomatic schedule on Tuesday, separately hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. The Oval Office doubleheader showcased Trump’s efforts to juggle two massive conflicts, one of which he vowed to resolve within 24 hours of taking office and the other of which he started.

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at back-to-back Oval Office visits, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Japan, and Oman’s plan for the Strait of Hormuz.

U.S. President Donald Trump had a packed diplomatic schedule on Tuesday, separately hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. The Oval Office doubleheader showcased Trump’s efforts to juggle two massive conflicts, one of which he vowed to resolve within 24 hours of taking office and the other of which he started.

First on the docket was Zelensky. According to the Ukrainian president, the two leaders used the closed-door session to discuss “licenses for Patriot interceptor production and several other ideas that could help” Kyiv’s war effort. Zelensky did not specify what those other ideas were.

Earlier this month, Trump announced that he would give Ukraine a license to manufacture Patriot air defense interceptor missiles, which Zelensky has argued are vital to countering Russia’s aerial attacks. “This way, you can’t complain that we’re not giving them enough,” Trump said at the time.

But Zelensky wants greater assurances. Patriots are expensive, complex munitions that take time to develop; owning a U.S. license will therefore do little to help Ukrainian forces in the near term. Meanwhile, Trump has ruled out giving Kyiv more Patriots from Washington’s own stockpile, having previously argued that “we need them........

© Foreign Policy