What is it with Trump and handshakes? This is getting awkward.

I wrote this essay for The Guardian.

It sounds ridiculous, but it really is beginning to look like you can read Donald Trump’s foreign policy by the bizarre ways that he shakes the hands of foreign leaders.

First there was the Abe Assault, 19 seconds of Trump trying to show the Japanese prime minister who’s the boss. (Cue Abe’s eye roll.)

Then came the Trudeau Standoff. Young Justin must have trained for the moment, because he leaned in deliberately, feet solidly on the ground, one hand firmly on Trump’s shoulder. The confident Canadian managed to disallow the president any primacy but instead forced a handshake among equals.

We can’t forget the May Grab, not quite a handshake but a wildly inappropriate clutch of British prime minister Theresa May’s hand, as if the handsy Mr Trump intentionally misunderstands the term “special relationship”.

And now there’s the Merkel Moment…

Read the rest here.