The trade deals Trump made this week should have sealed the deal for him in 2020. But they won't

No one can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory quite like the current president

Trump has spent his presidency promising multiple 'deals of the century' (REUTERS)

It's a week that is shaping up as one of the strangest in modern American politics. At any other time, President Trump could spend the bulk of his time celebrating his signing on the "Phase 1" trade deal with China and what will likely be a bipartisan passage of US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the update to the 26-year-old North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

However, Trump must live under the shadow of an impeachment trial that began on Thursday and is expected to last two to three weeks. The deal with China and the passage of the USMCA has been relegated to the "Oh, and by the way" portions of television news coverage, particularly on cable stations.

Still, the likelihood exists that the president will survive the impeachment trial and not get removed from office. When the Senate trial is over, Trump, with good reason, will take every opportunity he can to brag about the two trade details.

The devil, naturally, is in the details.

Some have treated news of the China deal with heavy doses of skepticism. The Wall Street Journal editorial board said it wasn't so much a deal as it was "a mutual truce that relieves considerable economic damage to both sides”.

Experts weighed in to say they were unsure that purchase targets made by China for buying agricultural products, business services, and energy will hit the aggressive $200 billion targets outlined in the agreement. China also scored a major coup by getting its designation as a currency manipulator removed by the US Treasury.

As for the USMCA, Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania voted against its passage and, in a statement, said, "Outside of a few necessary modernizations and modest market access improvements for Pennsylvania's dairy farmers, USMCA is a step backwards."

To the victor go the spoils. Many people won't know all that much about the details beyond knowing Trump got the deals done, including one with Senators who think he should get removed from office. That will likely figure prominently in Trump's 2020 re-election efforts, and with good reason.

Unemployment is at 50-year lows, wages are rising and the stock market is at record levels. Combine that with the passage of the tax-cut package, the criminal reform bill and the completion of two trade deals and it’s hard not to imagine any other candidate would be a shoo-in for a second term. Add in that some top-tier Democratic candidates have pushed for massive spending programs and the complete government takeover of the healthcare system, and it's a campaign manager's dream effort.

But this is Donald Trump. It's hard to imagine there's ever been a politician who can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory more than him. The president has a penchant for unleashing tirades on Twitter, is impetuous, and approaches policy with off-the-cuff announcements that seem to flow more from the annals of the Fox News channel than his administration. As a result, Trump manages to maintain job approval numbers that hover in the 44 per cent range.

Trump gets the most out of playing to his base of support in the Republican Party. While he comes off as disinterested and low-key during official White House announcements, he is right at home before large crowds at rallies where he gets to go on long extended rants that get treated with loud cheers as opposed to pointed questions from the press.

But he will need more than the base to get that second term. If the president and his team can sell the administration's successes while hitting impeachment as an exercise in pure partisanship, it could very well make the difference in November.

If, however, he engages in the kind of behavior that many voters find objectionable, people could very well look past the accomplishments. They would focus solely on Trump as a person, and wind up asking themselves, "Do I really want four more years of this?"

And if the answer is, "No," they'll go with a Democrat.