The Trump Administration and International Law

Is President Donald Trump destroying the global order? The conventional wisdom is yes. But this book argues that he is having much less success than is commonly recognized because our international relations are embedded in a legal order that he poorly understands, and does not control.

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Will Donald trump international law? Since Trump's Administration took office, this question has haunted almost every issue area of international law. One of our leading international lawyers-a former Legal Adviser of the US State Department, Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, and Yale Law Dean-argues that President Trump has thus far enjoyed less success than many believe, because he does not own the pervasive "transnational legal process" that governs these issue areas. This book shows how those opposing Trump's policies during his administration's first two years have successfully triggered that process as part of a collective counter-strategy akin to Muhammad Ali's "rope-a-dope." The book surveys immigration and refugee law, human rights, climate change, denuclearization, trade diplomacy, relations with North Korea, Russia and Ukraine, America's "Forever War" against Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and the ongoing tragedy in Syria. Koh's tour d'horizon illustrates the many techniques that players in the transnational legal process have used to blunt Trump's early initiatives. The high stakes of this struggle, and its broader implications for the future of global governance-now challenged by the rise of populist authoritarians-make this exhausting counter-strategy both worthwhile and necessary.