As a real estate developer, Donald Trump is deeply familiar with the three keys to success in that industry: location, location and location. Geopolitics, it turns out, also has three keys to success: leverage, leverage and leverage. But it’s not the kind of leverage (i.e., debt) that Trump loved to use in real estate. It’s geopolitical leverage — the power to impose your will on your adversary.

Seen from that point of view, Trump succeeded in bringing about a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip because he gained leverage over both Israel and Hamas — and he used it adroitly. He has failed to bring about a ceasefire in Ukraine, because he has refused to use all the leverage he has on Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who started the war. And Trump’s attempts to employ the leverage of tariffs to reduce Chin

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