{"id":4056,"date":"2026-03-08T19:18:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T19:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/?p=4056"},"modified":"2026-03-08T19:46:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T19:46:44","slug":"how-the-trump-administration-changed-the-rules-of-international-diplomacy-by-a-former-british-ambassador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranians.global\/news\/how-the-trump-administration-changed-the-rules-of-international-diplomacy-by-a-former-british-ambassador\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Trump administration changed the rules of international diplomacy \u2013 by a former British ambassador"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nicholas Westcott, Professor of Practice in Diplomacy, Dept of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University of London<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n

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The Trump administration\u2019s policies are making life more complicated for US diplomats abroad.<\/p>\n

In the past few days, senior US diplomats in two friendly countries \u2013 France<\/a> and Denmark<\/a> \u2013 have been summoned to receive diplomatic protests from the host government. This is unusual.<\/p>\n

Denmark has called in the US charge d\u2019affaires (as the ambassador has not yet been confirmed<\/a>) after intelligence reports suggested there were covert efforts by the US in Greenland<\/a> to stir up opposition to Danish rule. <\/p>\n

And in Paris, the new US ambassador, Charles Kushner, was summoned after publicly criticising the Macron government for not doing more to curb anti-semitism<\/a> \u2013 but sent one of his staff instead.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s approach to diplomatic relations dispenses with the usual niceties, the traditional courtesies, and cuts to the chase: who\u2019s bigger than who? The suggestion is<\/a> that if it is Trump, then he expects you to do what he wants. Where a foreign government continues to disagree with his policy, he seems willing to support efforts, as in Greenland<\/a>, to change the government or publicly pressure them to change. <\/p>\n

US president Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) advised his successors to speak softly and carry a big stick<\/a>. Trump clearly prefers to speak loudly and use the stick liberally, especially on the country\u2019s allies. This is a new US diplomatic game. <\/p>\n

All of this prompts the questions: what is the proper role for an ambassador abroad, and how should diplomatic relations be conducted? As I have set out in my recent book How to be a Diplomat<\/a> \u2013 drawing on 35 years as a British diplomat working in Africa, the Middle East, the US and the EU \u2013 there are rules, customs and practices, but these are not always observed.<\/p>\n

The Vienna Convention<\/a> of 1961, which sought to codify this practice, made clear that ambassadors should be respected as representatives of another sovereign state through the granting of appropriate diplomatic privileges and immunities. But that in turn, they should respect the host government by not criticising it in public or seeking to interfere directly in its internal affairs.<\/p>\n

The role of the ambassador<\/h2>\n

Ambassadors act as a mouthpiece for their government, and it is common for governments not to agree with each other. Ambassadors are there to represent, but also to explain, persuade and negotiate on points of difference.<\/p>\n

For that, you need to be able to talk to the host government. Insulting them in public, as Kushner did through his op-ed in a US newspaper<\/a>, does not encourage dialogue or lead to fruitful outcomes.<\/p>\n

There are well-established ways to manage such differences. Formal protests from one government to another are usually communicated through a diplomatic communication known as a note verbale<\/a> using a formal course of action called a d\u00e9marche<\/a> \u2013 delivered either by an ambassador to the host government, or by summoning the ambassador of the country concerned to the foreign ministry to meet the foreign minister or most senior official.<\/p>\n

Ambassadors can be summoned<\/a> too over the misbehaviour of their staff or citizens in the country concerned, or to expel some of their staff for undertaking activities incompatible with their status \u2013 the customary circumlocution for spying.<\/p>\n

If relations deteriorate further, an ambassador can be declared persona non grata<\/a>, effectively expelled, or formally \u201cwithdrawn for consultations\u201d, though a charge d\u2019affaires will often remain to ensure a means of communication between the governments continues.<\/p>\n

While British ambassador to the Ivory Coast, I was PNG\u2019d<\/a> by President Laurent Gbagbo after I had, together with the rest of the diplomatic corps in Abidjan, asked him to respect the result<\/a> of the 2010 election and stand down. (In the end, he went before I did.)<\/p>\n

The ultimate diplomatic sanction \u2013 usually the last step before war is declared \u2013 is to break off diplomatic relations entirely, withdraw all staff, and close the embassy.<\/p>\n

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