Amid growing concerns over the future of multilateral approach to addressing world issues, President Donald Trump mounted a strong opposition to the “ideology of globalism” arguing instead for expression of national sovereignty and need for countries to pursue their economic and defense interests on their own.
Trump set the tone for a debate over multilateralism over unilateralism with a speech to the UN General Assembly as he asked other nations to look after themselves let the United States to do the same.
“I honor every nation to pursue its own customs, beliefs and traditions. The United States will not tell you how to live or work or worship,” Trump said.
“We only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return,” he said in remarks interpreted as continuation of the Trump White House’s American First policy and a sort of American retreat from globalizing engagement on the world stage.
Trump said the United States “will not be taken advantage of any longer,” criticizing how he believes other nations have ripped the U.S. off on trade and defense spending.
He said he has asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to take a “hard look” at U.S. foreign assistance.
The U.S. is the world’s largest donor of foreign aid “but few give anything to us.”
The U.S. review will examine what is working and what is not working and whether countries that receive U.S. aid “have our interests at heart.”
He also made clear that going forward “we are only going to give foreign aid to those who respect us and, frankly, are our friends.”
While supporting the idea of making the UN “more effective” Trump also demanded accountability, saying Washington would change how the US funds the international body’s various programs and where US dollars are spent.
“Only when each of us does our part and contributes our share can we realize the UN’s highest aspirations,” Trump said.
On the U.S. pullout from the U.N. Human Rights Council, Trump said the body had become “a grave embarrassment to this institution,” said the US would not return to it without real reform and would provide neither support nor recognition to the International Criminal Court for similar reasons.
He added, “We will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy.”
Trump spoke for about 40 minutes and paused amid laughter at claims that he had “accomplished almost more than any administration in the history of our country”.
The U.S. economy is “booming like never before” and his administration has accomplished more in less than two years than almost any other administration. His claims elicited laughter from the scores of heads of state and delegates in the audience for the speech.
Trump responded by saying, “I didn’t expect that reaction, but that’s OK.”
Trump said the U.S. is a “stronger, safer and richer country” than when he took office in January 2017. “We are standing up for America and for the American people, and we are also standing up for the world.”
