Donald Trump’s disruptive impact on US alliance management was exemplified by two sets of public comments earlier in June 2018. The president’s public condemnation of Justin Trudeau as “very dishonest and weak” for pushing back against Washington’s imposition of tariffs on Canadian goods¹ was followed by praise for North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un as “very smart and very talented.”² The latter comments were accompanied by a peremptory announcement by Trump that annual joint exercises with South Korea would be terminated because they were a “provocation” to Pyongyang and cost the United States “a lot of money.” While it seems Beijing was aware of the impending announcement, US allies in Asia—including Seoul—were taken by surprise.³

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