It was the Obama-era deal that infuriated Donald Trump when he first came to office.

A shadowy arrangement in which the previous administration had agreed to take about 1,250 people from Australia's offshore detention centres.

Having inherited it, Mr Trump was ropable, famously accusing former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in a phone call of saddling America with the next Boston bombers.

Donald Trump on the phone with Mr Turnbull in 2017. ( Reuters: Jonathan Ernst )

"Who are these people?" he demanded, according to a leaked transcript of the call. "Really it looks like 2,000 people that Australia does not want."

He said the deal made him look like a "dope".

Mr Turnbull pulled out his finest negotiating skills, firmly rebutting the President's rejection of the deal while suggesting that the US didn't have to take any of the refugees if they didn't pass security assessments.

He also referenced a mysterious quid pro quo.

"We are taking people from the previous administration that they were very keen on getting out of the United States," Mr Turnbull said.

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"We will take more. We will take anyone that you want us to take. The only people that we do not take are people who come by boat."

This week, an investigation by US site Politico revealed that somewhere amid the cajoling, Australia agreed to take two Rwandans accused of brutally murdering eight people in a 1999 attack on two Americans and six other Western tourists in Uganda.

It is quite possible this move had been negotiated or partly set up by the Obama administration.

However it came about, the US has managed to rid itself of a problem in return for helping Australia out with one.

"It is important to you and it is embarrassing to me. It is an embarrassment to me, but at least I got you off the hook. So you put me back on the hook," Mr Trump told Mr Turnbull during the now infamous phone call.

An awkward position to defend

"We will take anyone that you want us to take," Mr Turnbull told Mr Trump in the 2017 phone call. ( Supplied: Prime Minister's Office )

This week, the story surfaced during the final throes of Australia's federal election campaign.

In a tough battle for re-election, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed that the men were allowed into the country after a series of security checks. And The Guardian Australia is reporting Mr Morrison knew of resettlement of the two men in late 2016.

It's an awkward position to defend for a Prime Minister who spent the final moments of the previous parliament warning that a vote for his opponents would make Australia's borders weaker.

As fate would have it, the very deal that Mr Trump worried would make him look like a "dope" is now putting significant heat on the other party to the arrangement — at the worst possible time.

According to Politico's reporting, court documents suggest the US had been seeking a new home for the Rwandans since 2015, but finding a country proved difficult.

Whether it was his work or not, Mr Trump could spin the successful ousting of the Rwandans as evidence of his dealmaker ethos at a time when he's taking heat for over $US1 billion ($1.45 billion) in business losses.

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But really, he doesn't need to. The story of the Rwandans has barely rated a blip on the American public's radar.

And with his own election on the line, Mr Trump had other deals to work on.

Speaking of Obama-era deals ...

Two US guided-missile destroyers are now in the Persian Gulf. ( US Navy via Reuters: Dan Snow )

Relations with Iran have been fraught since the US backed out of the nuclear deal last year.

And now, the Trump Administration has doubled down a maximum pressure plan — coercive diplomacy, but without the diplomacy.

The US has:

sent an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers and battleships to the region;



sent an aircraft carrier, B-52 bombers and battleships to the region; sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on an unscheduled trip to Iraq;

sent Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on an unscheduled trip to Iraq; issued plans for sending 120,000 troops to the region in the event of an attack; and



issued plans for sending 120,000 troops to the region in the event of an attack; and ordered its embassy in Baghdad to be partially evacuated.

Detailed explanation has been missing on the exact reasons for the escalation.

The New York Times reported that photographs of missiles on boats in the Persian Gulf led the US to believe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was planning an attack on US naval ships.

The US also blamed Iran for strikes on Saudi oil tankers and pumping stations earlier this month.

Pressed by reporters on whether war with Iran was imminent, Mr Trump replied, "I hope not".

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So that's reassuring.

There is a school of thought among foreign policy observers that Mr Trump's hawkish aides have been pushing for regime change.

His national security adviser, John Bolton, for example, previously expressed opinions to that effect as a private citizen.

Meanwhile, Mr Pompeo has outlined 12 conditions that Iran would need to meet for a new deal to be made.

But even the Pentagon has called them unachievable.

So for now, the deal-making strategy is pressure, as neither war nor compromise seem to be Mr Trump's preferred next move.

Meanwhile, in China...

Washington and Beijing were already going toe-to-toe when the US decided to escalate things.

Earlier this week, Mr Trump issued a ban on foreign-made telecommunications equipment that he said posed a threat to national security.

The move, which came just days after the US and China announced new tariffs against each other, effectively outlaws Huawei, China's leading networking company, from becoming America's next 5G provider.

Mr Trump has repeatedly said America needs to win the 5G game, yet no local companies can make the technology necessary for 5G traffic.

Some politicians say it is a necessary step for national security.

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Foreign policy experts warn that it will cut Huawei's economic growth off at the kneecaps, which could scuttle any attempts at a trade deal in the future.

And in the meantime, companies across multiple industries in both countries have announced they'll be raising prices.

However, Mr Trump has staked his reputation on his dealings with China. Much of what he is doing does have bipartisan backing.

But it's a big gamble, especially with an election campaign ahead.