President Donald Trump has taken a hands-on approach to diplomacy, even giving some world leaders his personal cell phone number, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Trump has encouraged the practice, although senior officials are often left in the dark because of it and remain concerned about promises made that cannot be fulfilled.
"We never know who he's talking to or what he's agreed to," one official told the newspaper.
Trump prefers direct communication so he and his counterparts can "speak freely without the bureaucratic headaches and security measures that often come with official calls," reports the WSJ.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia's Vladimir Putin, and North Korea's Kim Jong Un all have a direct line to Trump.
"At this point, foreign leaders understand that nobody can speak authoritatively other than Trump, and that what other interlocutors say may not represent the president's position today," Robert Danin, a longtime U.S. diplomat, told the WSJ.
Trump often prefers one-on-one discussions, an approach he used in his business dealings before entering the White House in 2017.
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