Donald Trump has been in office for several months. His policies on trade, immigration and diplomacy have caused uncertainty at home and abroad. As the president of the biggest power in the world, Trump’s words and behavior have had a profound effect not only on the US but also on the rest of the world’s economic and political order.   

Asked how they see Trump’s presidency, a panel of five observers from China, America, Singapore and Australia all gave him a negative evaluation on “Dialogue with Thinkers: The Post-election US” at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2017.  

“Trump does not have the wisdom and leadership which the president of the United States should have. He is more like a negotiator,” the former US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said. “He refused to shake hands with the German prime minister and is humiliating Mexico. His image is very different from a president. His supporters do not want him to behave like a traditional president; instead, they welcome a non-mainstream president.”    

Honorary Dean of the School of National Development at Peking University Justin Yifu Lin agreed with Gutierrez’s comments. He believes that a portrait of a president does not derive from his appearance, but from his thoughts and behaviors.

“Trump’s thought seems to be fragmented,” said former Foreign Minister of Australia, Bob Carr. “Trump is a man who always exaggerates, he likes to tweet his comments on many national and international issues, but his cognitive style is problematic. His thoughts will be tested in times of crisis.”

As an old China hand, former Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Finance Max Baucus also expressed his strong dissatisfaction with some of Trump’s decisions. He thought that it was a huge geopolitical error to give up on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. “We should go back to the TPP framework to build a strong multilateral trading partnership,” he said.

“The United States should be a contributor to a global order, not be the saboteur of the order,” said Huang Jing, Director of Centre on Asia & Globalization, National University of Singapore.

In his analysis, Trump’s election reflects the serious social divisions in America, which are also the main reasons why the United States cannot reach a consensus on many domestic and international issues nowadays.