Trump blasts UN and Western allies in fiery UN speech

US President Donald Trump delivered a blistering speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York today, unleashing sharp criticism of the world body, Western allies, global migration policies, and the climate change “con job”.

In an address lasting nearly an hour, Trump accused the UN of being ineffective and even harmful, alleging it was “funding an assault on Western countries” by supporting illegal migrants.

“It’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders,” Trump declared. “Your countries are going to hell.” He claimed that UN assistance programmes—providing food, shelter, and transport—were helping people illegally cross into the United States. “The UN is supposed to protect countries from invasions, not create and finance them,” he said.

Migration dominated Trump’s remarks, but his speech ranged widely. He denounced climate change as the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” dismissing international environmental efforts while touting his administration’s rollback of regulations and expansion of oil drilling. He also blasted European allies for continuing to buy Russian oil, criticised China and India for the same, and described recognition of a Palestinian state by US allies as a “reward” for Hamas after the October 2023 attacks on Israel.

Trump rebuked the UN for failing to support his attempts to negotiate peace deals in conflicts such as Gaza and Ukraine, deriding the organisation as producing only “empty words” in the form of strongly worded letters. He contrasted this with his own boasts of ending “seven wars” and taking aggressive action against drug traffickers, including ordering deadly strikes on Venezuelan smuggling boats.

The 79-year-old Republican’s fiery return to the UN drew a muted response from world leaders. Unlike his first UN speech in 2018, which was met with laughter, this year’s full-frontal attack on the global order was received largely in silence. Trump even mocked the institution’s facilities, joking that all he had received from the UN was “a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.”

Since returning to office, Trump has pushed a US-first agenda, pulling the US out of the World Health Organisation and the UN climate pact, slashing aid programmes, and sanctioning foreign judges. His speech underscored his administration’s pivot away from global cooperation, insisting instead on sovereignty and border control.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned in his own address that US-led aid cuts were “wreaking havoc” worldwide, while Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva cautioned against rising “anti-democratic forces.” Trump, however, brushed aside such concerns, using the high-profile platform to reaffirm his hardline positions and challenge the UN’s very purpose.