It is true that Trump had spoken of rebalancing the NAFTA, and of some adjustment to the China trade arrangement, but the Mexico / wall connection was not mentioned until people started to point out that Mexico wasn't stumping up cash or bricks and mortar. I don't remember any suggestion that Canada should pay for the wall, so perhaps NAFTA needs to be two completely separate arrangements for clarity (I think I have heard the Donald say this too, but I can't pin down where or when). I don't think I called it a "cynical deflection of failure", but I will state my belief that he is revising history to fit the present, so pretty much the same thing with the emphasis shifted just a fraction.
Something I respect about Trump is that his lack of political genes helps him avoid the classical left / right definitions. This is refreshing, as it pushes all of us to examine what we really want as an outcome. He has recast the debate about free trade and tariffs, wrongfootingbRepublicans and Democrats, Conservatives and Labour alike.
Is imposing new tariffs encouraging or discouraging free trade? Or just ensuring freedom where he wants it by discouraging it elsewhere? You are probably right that I wasn't paying attention. It was the start of what turned out to be a much longer night than expected. While there are clear differences between EU and my thinking (if that was what you meant?) it seems to me that the restrictive/mixed economy of the EU offered us more free trade than the laissez-faire/mixed economy of the WTO, with the increased tariffs it brings (in quantity, if not also in price). The wall, in this context, is a red herring. Even where it exists, bad people tunnel under it rather than simply go round. The economics of crime is as sophisticated as that of the meat trade, sending live animals abroad to be slaughtered before bringing them back to eat, for example. It seems ludicrous but it works for the people maximising profits.
I hope that explains my position more clearly, vetuste_ennemi. Another commenter suggested I might have some inside knowledge of the peninsula. I don't, and didn't claim it. I am aware that even Trump's own appointed staff and apolitical advisers are frustrated that he does not read his briefs. This is widely documented and not my personal opinion. I could point to his success in the Singapore talks, claiming to have demanded closure of a testing facility that had been reported as being critically damaged a few months previously. I didn't need to read his advice to know what had been public knowledge before the talks were arranged.
South Korea had the capability to make nuclear weapons forty years ago but did not pursue an independent arsenal because of changes around the world under Reagan and Gorbachev. There are several other countries, such as Israel and South Africa, who were allowed to develop their programmes for ideological reasons, but South Korea was a bulwark against communism, so has always been protected by the US. This is not privileged information. I have never read the 'Pyongyang Times', but I am inclined to lump that suggestion into my earlier comment about Trump changing perspectives. It almost feels as if you are accusing me of being a North Korean apologist simply because I have read open source information about the military capability that Europe looks to for our security. Who would have predicted that five years ago?