- calendar_today August 8, 2025
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President Donald Trump is again touting his foreign policy achievements by taking credit for the end of wars. On Monday at the White House, Trump, who is now in his second term, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders. During the meeting, he bragged that he has ended six wars and claimed that he was “close” to ending the ongoing conflict in Ukraine as well.
“I’ve done six wars — I’ve ended six wars,” Trump said. He referred to conflicts in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. “Look, India-Pakistan, we’re talking about big places. You just take a look at some of these wars. You go to Africa and take a look at them,” Trump told Zelensky.
Earlier, the White House released a statement in which it described Trump as the “President of Peace” and listed a number of agreements and peacebuilding initiatives that his administration has brokered or facilitated in recent months, including ones involving Armenia and Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo. It also mentioned the Abraham Accords which he signed during his first term and normalized ties between Israel and a number of Arab states.
CEASEFIRES, NOT PEACE DEALS
Analysts say most of these deals are temporary ceasefires and not permanent peace deals. Even when it comes to Israel and Iran, Trump claimed to have facilitated peace in the midst of a 12-day conflict between the two, and the two countries have moved past their worst period of direct hostilities in years. But Tehran is still enriching uranium to close to weapons-grade levels in defiance of the Iran nuclear deal, and the decades-long enmity between the two has not budged much.
In other cases, Trump failed completely. His attempt at brokering an end to fighting between Israel and Hamas failed, as did his first-term outreach to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The latter resulted in the North building even more nuclear weapons than before.
One of Trump’s most recent wins came in the form of a declaration between Armenia and Azerbaijan signed at the White House earlier this month. The deal would have both sides recognize existing borders and renounce violence. It would also open a U.S.-controlled transportation corridor that runs through Azerbaijan. It is known as the “Trump Route for Peace and Prosperity,” and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called it “a miracle.” But analysts say that it is a fragile truce as the two countries have deeper constitutional and territorial differences which have yet to be resolved.
As for the Southeast Asia deal, Trump used the threat of trade tariffs to compel Cambodia and Thailand to end their military border clash that had left 38 people dead. While it was the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that did most of the heavy lifting, Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Manet singled out Trump as the one who intervened. He even nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump’s involvement with South Asia is a more murky one. Trump has taken credit for defusing a border flare-up between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in May. While Islamabad lauded Washington’s mediation, New Delhi didn’t. The truce they agreed to did not resolve their Kashmir dispute and does not appear durable.
WHEN IT COMES TO AFRICA, KOSSOVO, & MORE
Trump has also made much of his role in resolving a standoff in Africa between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The two sides agreed to disarm militias and reduce tensions along their common border. The central group involved in that violence is the M23 rebel group, which spurned the deal. Trump is also said to be driven by the desire to check China’s influence in Africa, a source of mineral wealth coveted by both.
His claims about Egypt and Ethiopia relate to their long-running dispute over a Nile dam project which Ethiopia built without Egypt’s approval. Trump has been seeking a middle-ground compromise but has not managed to get either side to agree to a binding pact.
Trump has also touted earlier progress between Serbia and Kosovo which his administration facilitated. The two took steps to build economic ties, but they still have no full diplomatic relations, and the EU has led most of the recent negotiations.
The lack of international development expertise at the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development due to Trump’s dismantling of those agencies may hurt his efforts at turning ceasefires into durable peace, critics say. But others say his often heavy-handed and unconventional approach, which often involves personal branding, has produced some short-term results.
Wallander, a former assistant secretary of defense who is now with the Center for a New American Security, said Trump’s behind-the-scenes diplomacy in South Asia was more successful than his bombastic claims. “The ones that were helpful … were conducted in a professional way, quietly, diplomatically … finding common ground between the parties,” she said.
As Trump moves ahead with what he’s promising as a peace effort in Ukraine, it is unclear whether his style will work and whether his record will be one of accomplishment or boastful rhetoric.







