While pursuing an “America first” policy, the Donald Trump administration has discovered the international and domestic benefits of peacemaking. Trump’s June 12 summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended with a rather vague communique. Nevertheless, it filled Trump with the confidence that he could achieve the complete denuclearization of North Korea through a negotiated settlement in less than three years.

In a meeting held in New York on June 15, White House adviser Jared Kushner, Middle East negotiations envoy Jason Greenblatt and US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley discussed with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres the upcoming US peace plan for the Israeli-Palestinian issue, the need to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the need to curb anti-Israeli resolutions at various UN forums.

According to a senior Norwegian UN diplomat close to Guterres, the Trump representatives were very serious about finalizing the US peace plan for the Middle East and publishing it. According to this diplomat, while Trump has not turned overnight into a passionate peacemaker believing in the equality between people, his envoys did seem committed to closing a deal.

Trump is, above all, a businessman, and this is how he negotiates; he makes a “take it or leave it” proposal, leaving detailed negotiations to his lieutenants and lawyers. According to the Norwegian diplomat, the Trump team is coordinating its peace plan mainly with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and to some degree with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The envoys were open about their totally pro-Israeli positions and proud of the relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem, presenting this as a diplomatic achievement.