Since taking office just over six months ago, US President Donald Trump has issued several ultimatums and pushed for deals.

Power lends weight to threats. When they come from the mouth of US President Donald Trump, he can be sure, by virtue of his office, that he will be listened to. He often links his threats to a deadline of a few weeks or months—and the demand for a deal.

The most recent high-profile case: Trump's behavior toward Russian President Vladimir Putin. If there is no deal in the efforts to end Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine within 50 days, Trump threatened last week that the US would impose high tariffs on Russia's trading partners. Whether he will follow through if no agreement is reached by then remains to be seen. This wouldn't be the first postponed deadline.

In the first six months of Trump's second presidency, this mix of threats, deadlines, and pressure for deals could be observed in a variety of contexts. How successful has the Republican been with this? Three examples:

Trump's trade policy is perhaps the most obvious example, and one that demonstrates that deadlines can be flexible for him, just like his definition of a deal. At the beginning of April, Trump held up a board in the White House Rose Garden. It depicted so-called reciprocal tariffs against numerous countries with which the US government considers it to have a particularly large trade deficit.

This caused shock worldwide, and the stock markets plummeted. Trump then suspended at least most of these tariffs again—for 90 days, as was initially announced. This pause was to be used for negotiations, and Trump and his team saw themselves in a strong position: "They're dying to make a deal. They're saying, 'Please, please, make a deal, I'll do anything for a deal, sir,'" the president said of the countries affected by his tariffs shortly before announcing the postponement. His economic advisor, Peter Navarro, considered "90 deals in 90 days" possible.

In the weeks that followed, it became clear that things weren't quite that simple. After 90 days, only a few deals had been reached, and according to observers, these—if anything—were more like framework agreements than traditional trade agreements.

Shortly before the deadline expired, Trump simply postponed it by a good three weeks to the beginning of August – followed by renewed threats to trading partners in the form of tariff letters. While he threatened the EU with tariffs of 20 percent on his April notice, he upped the ante in his letter – now it's 30 percent. Trump recently referred to this increased threat as a "deal," but also made it clear that talks are continuing. Will there be a real deal in the end? It's completely open.

Trump's behavior toward Iran can hardly be viewed in isolation from his ally Israel—but the messages he sent to Tehran and the world can. They paint a picture of a president who is serious about his threats if no deal is reached by the deadline he set. Whether everything actually happens exactly when and exactly as Trump intended takes a back seat in this public portrayal.

In April, the US and Iran resumed talks after years of hiatus, mediated by Oman. The goal: a new nuclear agreement. Trump had previously sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, expressing hope that Iran would negotiate, "because if we have to intervene militarily, it will be terrible." According to media reports, the US president also set Khamenei a two-month timeframe for the negotiations.

About two months after the talks began, another round of talks between Iran and the US was actually planned, but it never happened: Israel attacked Iran. Trump portrayed this on the platform Truth Social as a consequence of a lack of willingness to make a deal: He wrote that two months ago he had given Iran an ultimatum of 60 days to make a deal. "They should have done it! Today is day 61."

A few days later, the US attacked Iran's three most important nuclear facilities—and, according to Trump, completely destroyed them. However, the actual extent of the damage remains a mystery. While Trump announced a ceasefire and the end of the twelve-day war between Israel and Iran shortly thereafter, the underlying conflict remains unresolved. Trump announced renewed talks at the end of June. However, so far, no new negotiations between the US and Iran regarding its controversial nuclear program have been announced.

In any case, the question arises as to how serious Trump's efforts to secure a new nuclear deal are. Did he really consider it realistic to negotiate such an agreement within a few months? Years passed from the initial negotiations to the conclusion of the Vienna nuclear agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program in 2015. Trump unilaterally withdrew from this deal—which was not his—in 2018, during his first term in office.

Compared to foreign policy, Trump's mix of threats and deadlines appears more effective at home. Perhaps his greatest achievement so far in his second term in the U.S. Congress: the passage of the legislation known as "One Big Beautiful Bill."

There were also reservations about the tax and spending bill within his own ranks. But Trump consistently made it clear that he wanted it on his desk by Independence Day: "We're on schedule—let's get on with it and get it done before you and your family go on vacation on the Fourth of July," he said, addressing House Republicans on Truth Social after the bill passed the Senate.

For weeks, the president repeatedly exerted pressure on members of Congress – with success: One day before his deadline, the House of Representatives passed the bill. Trump later said of his influence on fellow party members: "What I did was – we talked about how good the bill is. I mean, it's a deal, I think, when you think about it."