Is this a deal on trade with Europe, or just a blueprint for a future deal?:

President Trump’s top economic adviser said Thursday that the United States and the European Union will join forces to hold China accountable for unfair trade practices and intellectual property theft.

National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow told Fox Business Network today that the US and Europe “will be allied” against China a day after Trump and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced an agreement to work toward a free trade agreement.

Kudlow said China had “broken the world trading system” and that Junker “made it clear” Wednesday that the EU would back the Trump administration’s efforts to curb trade abuse from Beijing…

Trump and Juncker announced Wednesday that the US and EU had agreed to begin talks geared toward removing all tariffs and trade barriers imposed on each other.

The EU has agreed to increase U.S. soybean and liquified natural gas (LNG) imports, lower industrial tariffs and work more closely together on regulations and energy. The US also agreed to not impose further tariffs on the EU while negotiations continue, including planned levies on foreign automobiles.

Whatever it is, it sure sounds very promising. Roger Simon at PJ Media thinks it’s even more promising than that.

One thing I don’t understand is people who fail to understand Trump’s negotiating style. After all, it’s not as though his modus operandi hasn’t been amply demonstrated. It’s not as though he didn’t write a best-selling book (or dictate one, or supervise the writing of one) about it.

People can disagree with Trump’s goals. They can certainly worry that his tactics won’t work, will backfire, or will wreak havoc. I certainly worry about negative repercussions at times; it’s not an unreasonable worry. But so far things have gone rather well. And I certainly realize what Trump is doing when (for example) he threatens to impose extreme tariffs if people don’t do such and such and such and such. His threats have power because he is perceived as a loose cannon—will he or won’t he? So, if people are afraid to call his bluff—and also if they can get to the point where they see mutual advantages in playing nice with him—he gets the deal.

That seems to be what’s happening right now with Europe.

I didn’t read Trump’s book. But that’s how I read his style. It’s not rocket science; but it does take cojones (or stones or chutzpah; take your cultural pick) to pull it off.

So here’s my question: are people who hate Trump just pretending to not get his style of dealmaking? Or do they really not even understand the concept? Because they write as though it’s one or the other.

Again, it’s certainly possible to criticize it or disagree with it but nevertheless show understanding of it. But so far I haven’t seen too much of that.

[NOTE: After I wrote this post, I noticed that today Andrew Klavan has written in a similar vein.]

[NOTE II: This post was originally on my older blog and had comments, but unfortunately the comments didn’t transfer over here.]