New Delhi, May 29 -- Donald Trump rambles on in his second term as US president, disrupting institutions and policies both at home and abroad. Several months on, his behaviour reveals a pattern, even if it is somewhat fuzzy.

He lays down his cards with outrageous announcements and then back-tracks, especially in bilateral negotiations. It is a pattern repeated in his domestic interventions in different fields as well as his dealings with US neighbours like Canada and Mexico, allies like the UK, EU, Japan and Korea, rivals like China and Russia, and other countries like India.

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But how much he will backtrack in a particular case, if he backtracks at ...