Inside Trump's shock and brawl strategy with foreign leaders

Axios

"President Trump isn't afraid to punch on foreign turf, even after getting the red carpet.

"The big picture: As the White House prepares for the summit with North Korea in Singapore on June 12 ("a once unimaginable encounter," the N.Y. Times calls it), we've put together a look at President Trump handles foreign leaders when the doors are closed:

• Trump wound up U.S. Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer and let him go to town in Beijing when meeting with President Xi Jinping and a whole bunch of Chinese representatives in November.
• In fact, Trump egged Lighthizer on. POTUS asked Lighthizer leading questions at the table in the bilateral meeting, which included Xi and the U.S. and Chinese delegations.
• Trump: "Bob, why don't you walk them all through what our trade deficit is and [how] all these dialogues have produced nothing? ... Take them through the history." Lighthizer was all too happy to do it.

"Trump likes to walk into a meeting with a head of state and throw out the protocol, which he believes throws rivals off balance." . . .