There was a new pivot available for President Trump's vague foreign policy last week after North Korea's Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un reportedly backed down from launching missiles toward Guam. That pivot being towards diplomacy to negotiate with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) -- the North Korean government -- under the condition that they disarm their nuclear weapons.

Trump becomes Kim Jong-un's 'shiny orange button'

The chance that the DPRK ever will disarm has been a non-starter for any negotiations even with previous administrations that have decades of experience.

It's even less likely that the Trump administration alone would be able to force them to disarm. With the threats of war that Trump has made toward North Korea over several months, it's even less likely. But with seven months to see the pattern of President Trump threatening everyone, Kim Jong-un likely has reason to believe he can now be entertained.

The reality of what North Korea will accept and what they actually want is clear, especially since the possible act of war has been suspended until Kim Jong-un decides when he wants to try and inflame the situation again. That being the case, one can also look at the limits of the Trump administration's ability to negotiate a hypothetical nuclear deal with North Korea by comparing it with the Iran nuclear deal otherwise known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The complexities of a good nuclear deal with Iran

President Trump has also threatened to cancel the JCPOA which was put together by the former Obama administration. That deal was extremely difficult to negotiate as Iran played hardball with the Obama administration to come to the table for two years. The work towards their efforts was criticized by Republicans repeatedly over that period of time.

And the previous administration has also been under continuous attack by Republicans and their supporters -- needless to say the Trump administration -- ever since. Despite that criticism, the deal currently has the support of the P+5 and the European Union. And every 90 days, the incumbent administration has to review the agreement and provide Congress with the results in order to recertify Iran saying that they are in fact complying with the deal.

Trump doesn't have the capacity to negotiate any nuclear deal

But President Trump is not interested in recertifying Iran as it seems to anger him every time he does. So far, he's recertified them twice. It's already been reported that the President was looking to find a reason to not recertify them again. What Trump did have was a congress that passed a bill for sanctions to slap on Iran again. In response, Iranian officials have said that if the U.S. continues to put sanctions on them or violate the deal that they will quickly leave the agreement and go back towards nuclear proliferation.

Donald Trump does not have the ability to work towards a deal as complicated as that which former Secretary of State John Kerry was able to negotiate.

For one, Trump has weakened Tillerson's role in the State Department as well as the Department itself, so there is no representative other than Trump himself which means to compromise is already a lost cause. He's handed that role over to his son-in-law Jared Kushner who has already shown that he does not have the ability to negotiate any deal. In the same way, President Trump does not have the patience, the mental nor diplomatic dexterity to negotiate a complex deal with other nations much less Iran. So any effort to negotiate nuclear disarmament of North Korea is a fantasy.
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