Inside the room, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other leaders listened to Trump speak.
Since his last address to the assembly six years ago, “the guns of war have shattered the peace I forged on two continents,” he said, before he touted his own efforts to bring an end to seven wars and conflicts in seven months.
“I never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help in finalizing the deal. All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that on the way up stopped right in the middle … and then a teleprompter that didn’t work,” Trump said, alluding to technical issues at the beginning of his remarks Tuesday.
After his speech, Trump is scheduled to meet with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, as well as leaders from Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union, where, he said, many countries stand “on the brink of destruction” because of their green energy projects. He will also take part in a multilateral meeting with Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday.
Trump said he would soon sit down with Lula, praising their “excellent chemistry.”
When Trump addressed the U.N. during his first term, he promised to “reject the ideology of globalism” and urged other countries to join him in a patriotic national embrace. Those remarks drew derisive snickers from the world leaders and dignitaries in the audience.
This year, Trump said he was eager to offer “the hand of American leadership and friendship” to any members of the assembly “willing to join us in forging a safer, more prosperous world.”
He urged its support in bringing an end to wars, including in Gaza and Ukraine, but said that to do so, “we must work together.”
While his relationships with many foreign leaders have improved this time around, Trump has not shied from envisioning an expansionary image of American strength while imposing punishing tariffs on friends and foes alike. Some of those tariffs, Trump said, were a retaliatory effort.
“We are hitting them back,” he said of Brazil, before he suggested the bilateral relationship could forge a new path out of economic struggle.
“They can only do well when they’re working with us; without us, they will fail just as others have failed,” he said.
