Week's events show challenges facing Trump's foreign policy

A week of diplomacy from President Donald Trump was meant to signal strength, but his Sept. 22 UN address and a Sept. 24 meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted major foreign-policy challenges. At the UN, Trump defended military action and threatened to “annihilate” Iran unless Tehran agreed to a deal, as the conflict nears seven months. The war, sparked Feb. 28 by U.S. and Israeli strikes, has disrupted energy supplies and spread to Yemen and the Red Sea shipping route. Domestically, rising U.S. gasoline prices and divisions within parts of his base add pressure. Meanwhile, the Xi talks produced limited progress, delivering mainly a two-month extension of the U.S.-China trade truce before it expires in November amid disputes over trade, AI, Taiwan, and Iran.