• Trump’s foreign policy agenda appears stalled heading into November midterms

  • Iran stalemate looms large

  • Some world leaders push back against Trump

  • US-China summit heavy on pomp, papering over differences

WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - From his high-profile address to the UN General Assembly to his high-stakes White House summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump this week was looking to reassert himself on the world stage.

But Trump’s diplomatic flurry has done little to dispel the view among many analysts of a president beset by problems at home and ​abroad. Those include a widening Iran war that has driven up US gasoline prices and cratered his approval ratings, while his relations with allies worsen and the AI challenge from China intensifies.

With the limits of his ‌power exposed, Trump has begun facing pushback from world leaders on issues ranging from the crisis in the Middle East to Russia’s war in Ukraine, leaving the impression of a foreign policy agenda that has stalled. This comes as Trump’s Republican Party faces midterm elections in November that could further constrain him politically.

Even so, Trump’s speech to the United Nations on Tuesday was a stark reminder of how, since returning to the White House last year, he has shaken up the rules-based global order that Washington helped to create from the ashes of World War Two. Standing atop the rostrum of a world body dedicated ​to peacemaking, he issued a fresh threat to “annihilate” Iran if it did not agree to a deal, defended his coercive approach to OPEC member Venezuela by asserting “to the victor belong the spoils,” and signaled he may not be done deploying ​the US military to achieve his international aims.

Despite that strident stance, Trump’s talks with Xi on Thursday put the US president up against a Chinese counterpart who appeared to be in stronger position, ⁠overseeing a surge in his country’s trade with the world while the US grapples with the economic fallout from the Iran conflict.