In Bob Woodward's book on the first Trump presidency, Trump shows a fixation with trade deficits and trade imbalances. His cabinet would try to explain that the US having a trade imbalance with South Korea (one of the topics in the book) was expected, and he had to consider the defense and intelligence agreements as part of that. Trump would not have it – he was described as obsessively focused on the trade imbalance alone, believing it made the US look weak.

White House staff took to sneaking into the Oval Office to remove draft letters and agreements from his desk before he could sign them, so he couldn't ruin trade deals like KORUS or NAFTA over his misgivings. This time around he has obviously learned he should only have yes men in the cabinet.