Daily Brief: The Art of the Failed Deal

A cultural analysis of why Trump can't negotiate a deal.

Way Yuhl

May 21, 2025

man wiping his tears — Photo by Tom Pumford on Unsplash

📬 In This Email:

🇮🇷 Iran’s Supreme Leader Rejects Talks with the U.S.

📞 Trump’s Ceasefire Bid with Putin Fails

🌍 WHO Adopts Landmark Pandemic Treaty, Despite Trump

🧭 Cultural Dimensions Overview
→ High vs. Low Context (Hall), Particularism vs. Universalism (Trompenaars), Power Distance (Hofstede)

🧠 Why This Matters
→ The erosion of universal rules, the rise of relational geopolitics, and the death of “deals” as solutions

🔍 Understanding—Not Judging
→ Why some cultures say “no” even when they mean “maybe”

📚 Book of the Week: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

🎥 More Cultural Perspectives on TikTok

📊 Poll: Can you build peace without shared rules?

Cultural Dimensions Overview

High vs. Low Context (Hall): High-context cultures (like Iran and Russia) communicate meaning through implicit signals, history, and shared understandings. Low-context cultures (like the US) rely on explicit language, directness, and formal agreements.
Particularism vs. Universalism (Trompenaars): Particularism values exceptions, relationships, and discretion in applying rules. Universalism insists on consistency, predictability, and equality before the law.
Power Distance (Hofstede): In high-power-distance cultures, authority is centralized and not questioned. In low-power-distance cultures, negotiation and accountability are expected.

The News

🇮🇷 Iran’s Supreme Leader Dismisses US Talks

Cultural Lens: High-Context vs. Low-Context Diplomacy
In Iran’s high-context setting, negotiations aren’t just about the contract; they require trust, historical memory, and honor.

The US’s procedural and transactional approach doesn’t resonate in a system built on symbolism and legacy, and the Trump administration does not understand this

🔗 Read more – Reuters

📞 Trump-Putin Ceasefire Call Falls Flat

Cultural Lens: Particularism vs. Universalism, Strategic Ambiguity
Trump’s direct intervention was a low-context move in a high-context culture. Putin’s position, rooted in strategic opacity and particularist expectations, would never yield to a single call. The assumption that relationships override structure proved flawed. Trump can’t seem to learn this lesson.

🔗 Read more – Washington Post

🌍 WHO Passes Global Pandemic Agreement—US Opts Out

Cultural Lens: Universalism without Universality
Trump wanted to isolate and weaken the WHO, but today’s agreement shows he failed again. This is a triumph for rules-based global health. The U.S.'s absence reveals how universalist ideals falter when major powers prioritize national autonomy.

🔗 Read more – Reuters

Why This Matters

These are not isolated foreign policy missteps. We are watching Trump and the Republican administration consistently fail to understand how other cultures operate. They believe there is only one way to do things, and it’s their way or the highway. They are right, and everyone else is wrong.

In Iranian culture, diplomacy is long-term and built on trust, not a swoop in, demand, and leave. Trump’s ultra-low-context, myopic view of a ‘deal’ makes the situation worse in a culture that considers history, past actions, and character as the foundation of diplomacy. Without shared history and honor, there is no agreement, only offense.

Trump’s tactics not only fail, they insult and push Iran to harden its resolve to move forward with its nuclear ambitions.

In Russia, the same pattern holds. Trump genuinely thought one direct call to Putin would undo centuries of suspicion of the West, fear of encirclement by foreign powers (today NATO), and Russia's divine calling to protect Orthodox Christianity from European decadence.

This is not an American business deal, and Trump can not conceive that hundreds of years of history, culture, and honor would be forgotten and abandoned because he called.

Similar to the Iranian debacle, Trump is creating his failure to grasp this means each outreach weakens US influence. Putin has already begun to grow tired of Trump’s calls. At some point, he’ll stop wasting his time even talking to Trump.

At the WHO, the cultural contrast couldn’t be clearer. A global, universalist health agreement was passed. Trump walked away. This was not a win for American sovereignty, it was a loss of American leadership and a reminder to the world of how far the US has shifted to isolated individualism.

Again, Trump failed in his objective to weaken the WHO. Instead, the world responded by moving on without the US. When the next pandemic hits, will the WHO help America?

Understanding—Not Judging

It can be difficult to understand how those in charge of America’s national security can be so ignorant of basic cultural principles, history, and diplomacy. But these individuals come from a cultural perspective of individualism, masculinity, and short-term orientation.

Their priorities are the focus, the only way to win is for the others to lose, and they must win quickly and decisively. This is a disastrous combination in diplomacy, and the world will be a more dangerous place with the Republican administration in charge.

Book Recommendation: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

“Leadership is knowing how to build trust — even with those who disagree with you.”

In Team of Rivals, Goodwin chronicles how Abraham Lincoln built a cabinet of former adversaries, not because he liked them, but because he respected their capabilities. He understood that enduring strength comes from inclusion, humility, and the ability to see value in different perspectives.

That’s the exact opposite of what we’re seeing today. Trump’s approach to diplomacy mirrors none of Lincoln’s. He surrounds himself with loyalists, sees disagreement as betrayal, and views every negotiation as a zero-sum game. But diplomacy, especially with high-context cultures like Iran or opaque, particularist powers like Russia, requires what Lincoln mastered: patience, honor, and respect for complexity.

Lincoln’s genius wasn’t just moral, it was cultural. He led a fractured country by listening. Trump, on the other hand, alienates allies by talking. While the world builds coalitions, he burns bridges.

If you want to understand what real leadership looks like in a divided world, Team of Rivals is essential. Power isn’t about domination, it’s about understanding the people across from you and earning their trust. That’s what Lincoln knew, and that’s what Trump never will.