When in early April Donald Trump unveiled from the White House gardens his plan “Liberation Day” on the planet appeared and not for a moment a thick black cloud, a cloud of instability, a cloud full of question marks, concern but also tangible – huge economic losses both inside and outside the United States. The US President, who is demonstrably not hiding, professes to be first and foremost a man of commerce. The US President lives for the conditions created by economic competition, and being in the oval office may deprive him of his only real workplace pleasure: the “fever” of negotiation.

Donald Trump’s moves, which were essentially the declaration of a trade war with China, almost 40 days later seem to be leading down a path that the US President had planned from the beginning. Trump, well aware of the dynamics of the Chinese economy, but also having a clear picture of the weapons and the way Beijing has been using them for more than 15 years, wanted to bring his country’s great rival face to face. Yes, Trump hasn’t won yet and, yes, what he has done has caused considerable turmoil globally and pan-American but how can one bring into the light of battle an adversary who has chosen as a strategy not to fight his battles directly?

Trump did not suddenly become a maître d’ of diplomacy and political maneuvering, but when someone is judged as harshly – rightly so – by the entire planet we ought to give him credit for the positives. The US-China bilateral meeting in Switzerland would not have been possible without Trump and the “shock and awe” he caused (by taking hits himself with tariffs of over 140%) to the East…

Of course, not even the first 100 meters of the marathon between the two most powerful economies on the planet have been passed, but the mere fact that they are sitting at the same table today, not for formal but for substantive reasons, is clearly a victory (without quotation marks) of the American President, and regardless of the results of the discussions – negotiations. China, which also will not come out of this situation “defeated” as Beijing is in absolute need of the American market, might not want to be “dragged” as is ultimately the case now into a structural discussion with the US for the distant future. Beijing has nevertheless shown reflexes and has not been caught ‘napping’ by the developments which shows that China had prepared itself. Despite the preparation, the dialogue is taking place under US pressure and even at the global level, with all that this implies.

Another important move on Trump’s part is the team that has been sent to Switzerland to create the draft on which the US and China will negotiate at the highest – most likely – level a future agreement. This time the White House has made sure to have all the details for the Chinese delegation and Trump has “built” a team consisting of both good negotiators and diplomats. Apart from some statements about “a deal with China”, the US President has not given the slightest detail about what took place last weekend behind closed doors. This for him is unusual and it’s worth anyone seeing how he announced last Wednesday the deal with the UK that was announced two days later…

Trump despite his “irrepressible” personality knows that the Chinese are different and the stakes are huge. Given that if things go in the direction he too wants, he will seize the opportunity and present it in a spectacular context ideal for him with the President of China at his side. If again what his own US demands do not come – at least not all of them – to Washington and he still does not paint it “black” as the project that only he managed to get a Chinese signature on an interstate trade agreement is not only not false but will be very important.

For Trump, winning with China on the points today is important for many reasons – personal, political and geostrategic. It is by no means easy, small or simple for the world’s two biggest powers to not just talk but to agree even on a framework. The US President’s victory, the first substantive one of his second term, will also set the stage for a different course and not directly confrontational the entire world, which may or may not “protest” the common 10% that the US has imposed as based tariffs. If there is ultimately and tangible points agreement there will – under normal circumstances – be no one who won’t knock on Trump’s door to agree a new trade framework.

Trump, who ultimately failed to end the War in Ukraine in his first 100 days in the oval office, who has not brought peace to the Middle East in that same time may accomplish in less than 40 what his predecessors failed to do in 8 years.