- calendar_today August 8, 2025
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President Donald Trump is increasingly selling himself as a global dealmaker, claiming he has already ended six wars in his second term. He made the comments Monday during a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other European leaders in which he also vowed results on ending the ongoing war in Ukraine.
“I’ve done six wars — I’ve ended six wars,” Trump said. “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.”
The White House has been marketing Trump as the “President of Peace,” issuing a statement earlier this month that pointed to claimed achievements across multiple regions. The list of conflict mediations touted by the White House included Armenia and Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo. Officials also pointed to Trump-era Abraham Accords that normalized ties between Israel and several Arab states.
Deal or Ceasefire?
Trump’s assertions have raised questions as to whether he is delivering real solutions or just branding ceasefires as historic peace agreements. In the case of Israel and Iran, for example, a truce ended a 12-day conflict. But underlying tensions remain, and the root of the dispute, Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, is as intractable as ever.
His previous peace efforts have also underscored the limitations of his approach. Attempts to end violence between Israel and Hamas foundered, and first-term summits between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended without progress, leaving Pyongyang with a larger nuclear arsenal.
Yet Trump has been able to claim some symbolic breakthroughs. Earlier this month, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a declaration at the White House to recognize borders and renounce violence. The agreement also called for a U.S.-backed transportation corridor, dubbed the “Trump Route for Peace and Prosperity.” Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev even called the agreement “a miracle,” but analysts say hard territorial disputes remain unsolved.
Pressure Tactics
In Southeast Asia, Trump used the promise of economic leverage to halt violence. Fighting between Cambodia and Thailand over contested border areas killed 38 people. But he threatened to suspend trade deals with both governments unless they called off the clashes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) helped mediate the final deal, but Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet still credited Trump. Hun even nominated the former president for the Nobel Peace Prize for his “extraordinary statesmanship.”
In May, Trump similarly broke into a border flare-up between India and Pakistan. Pakistan welcomed Washington’s role, but India denied the U.S. had been pivotal. A year later, the ceasefire remains tenuous, with the long-running dispute over Kashmir unresolved and vulnerable to new fighting.
Trump has also claimed credit for progress in Africa, including an accord between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That deal called for mutual recognition of borders and disarmament of militias. The M23 rebel group, a key combatant in the region, rejected the accord. Analysts are skeptical that it can hold and say U.S. strategic interests are at play, with the deal seen as strengthening Washington’s position in a competition with China over Africa’s mineral wealth.
Trump also has laid claim to a deal between Egypt and Ethiopia over a massive Nile dam project. Trump has pushed them for compromise, but no binding deal has been reached. In a similar case, the administration is pointing to normalization measures between Serbia and Kosovo dating back to Trump’s first term. But the two nations remain at odds and recent talks have been driven largely by the European Union.
Skeptics on Lasting Peace
Trump’s often-antiestablishment diplomatic style — a preference for bold declarations and personal branding over quiet negotiations — has resulted in mixed outcomes. Critics say his downsizing of the State Department and cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development during his term have undermined the ability of the American government to translate short-term deals into durable peace.
But some observers point to cases where his interventions have worked. Celeste Wallander, a former assistant secretary of defense who now works at the Center for a New American Security, said Trump’s role in easing India-Pakistan tensions was handled “in a professional way, quietly, diplomatically … finding common ground between the parties.”
Now, as Trump turns his attention toward Ukraine, the key question is whether his record so far is a sign of lasting diplomacy or temporary fixes. His record shows both: headline-grabbing agreements that fall short of permanent peace, alongside a few cases where U.S. pressure appears to have stemmed conflicts from getting any worse. Whether those outcomes will last is an open question.
