President Trump plans to address the 80th session of the United Nations’ General Assembly Tuesday morning, laying out his vision for how America should wield — or decline to wield — its power abroad.
In the speech, Mr. Trump plans to target “globalist institutions” that have “significantly decayed the world order,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary. “He will articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world,” she said.
Since retaking office, Mr. Trump has made dramatic changes to America’s approach to foreign policy.
He has largely eschewed the use of nonmilitary “soft power,” severely cutting foreign aid and dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has declined to pay for more aid to help Ukraine fight off Russia’s invasion or try to put any limits on Israel’s broadened military campaign in Gaza. And he has told strongmen leaders of other countries that the United States would no longer sit in judgment of them.
Several close U.S. allies issued this week what amounted to a reprimand of his go-it-alone vision, joining most of the U.N. body in recognizing Palestine as a state and risking the ire of the president, who has adamantly opposed such a move.
The president, for his part, has made it clear he wants little to do with much of the U.N. mandate. He has withdrawn the United States from the U.N.’s Human Rights Council, and ordered a review of America’s role in the organization. The Trump administration clawed back $1 billion in funding for the U.N. and informed Congress of its intent to slash another $1 billion, adding to a funding shortfall at the United Nations.
But at the same time, Mr. Trump has inserted America into peace negotiations in conflicts across the globe, including the war in Gaza. The president has also shown a willingness to use a quick show of force, as he did when he ordered airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Mr. Trump, who is in open pursuit of a Nobel Peace Prize, plans to trumpet his role in bringing about several peace agreements or cease-fires during his speech, including a deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan and Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
After his speech, Mr. Trump plans to meet one on one with António Guterres, the U.N. secretary general; President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine; President Javier Milei of Argentina; and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission.
Later Tuesday, Mr. Trump will meet with the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
The meeting with the leaders of predominantly Arab or Muslim countries comes at a pivotal time for the war in Gaza, as Israel’s military pushes into Gaza City and the country faces allegations in a U.N. inquiry of carrying out a genocide. And it will come with the stark absence of Palestinian leaders, as the Trump administration has denied visas to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, and his delegation.
Arab countries have created their own proposal to rebuild Gaza and turn it into part of a future Palestinian state, without Hamas in government. Some of the United States’ longest-standing allies, including Australia, Britain and Canada, now recognize Palestine as a state. Mr. Trump has argued such a designation rewards Hamas and harms efforts to reach a peace agreement with Israel, and he has cast doubt on any eventual two-state solution.
Mr. Trump has also insisted he wants humanitarian aid to flow into Gaza and lamented the “real starvation” there. But the president has not publicly sought to stop the military push by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel or challenge him to restore pathways for aid.
Luke Broadwater covers the White House for The Times.
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