Trump UN speech - President laughed at by world leaders as he boasts of achievements amid condemnation of Iran
First appearance before intergovernmental organisation after Washington cut refugee aid funding
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump has asserted American sovereignty - rejecting “global governance, control and domination” - in an address to the UN General Assembly.
Mr Trump said the United States will never tell other nations how to live, work or worship. But the president added the United States expects other nations to “honour America's sovereignty in return.”
The president arrived late, forcing a last-minute scheduling switch, then received polite applause but also blank stares as he took his blustery brand of “America First” policies to the annual General Assembly.
Speaking in triumphal terms, Mr Trump approached the address as an annual report to the world on his country's progress since his inauguration. He crowed that in “less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country.”
Rather than applaud or indicate they were impressed, the audience began to chuckle and some broke into outright laughter. Mr Trump appeared briefly flustered before joking that it was not the reaction he expected but “that's all right.”
The moment only reinforced Mr Trump's isolation among allies and foes alike, as his nationalistic policies have created rifts with erstwhile partners and cast doubt in some circles about the reliability of American commitments around the world.
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Mr Trump's focus on Iran in this speech is unlike most other world leaders' speeches which generally focus on bigger themes and UN actions rather than bilateral issues.
The US "will no longer be taken advantage of," Mr Trump said about free trade and renegotiating a whole host of US trade agreements, once again hitting his "America First" foreign policy doctrine home in what appears to be a speech aimed at his domestic audience rather than the global one in front of him in the room.
Principal among the renegotiated agreements: the nearly $25 trillion North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta).
"We will no longer allow our workers to be vicitimised, our companies to be cheated, or our wealth to be plundered," the president said, hitting out at the "trade imbalance" with China.
The US will always act in its national interest," the president said in perhaps one of his most obvious statements in this speech, according to one diplomat who spoke to The Independent.
"We will never surrender America's sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable," global body, Mr Trump said about the International Criminal Court.
Though, he may have also said about the UN itself just last year.
Read/watch here about our coverage of National Security Advisor John Bolton's thoughts on how the ICC is "dead" to America:
"Germany needs to change course or will be 'totally dependent' on Russian energy," Mr Trump said, to a bit of laughter from the German delegation shown on camera.
Germany has actually been a consistent leader in renewable energy policy within Europe.
Mr Trump announces the US will not be joining the global compact on migration because "we recognize every nation to set its own immigration policy, just as we expect other countries to respect our right".
The administration came under widespread criticism after separating families at the US-Mexico border, despite many of those people entering the country in order to seek asylum.
Mr Trump, appearing to speak directly to his base ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, said the US is often the highest contributor to world organisations "but few give anything to us".
He said the US will be examining foreign aid and tells the world funds will only go to those countries who "respect us and frankly are our friends".
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to lead this assessment, he said.
Mr Trump's speech has concluded with the president saying "we choose patriotism, prosperity, and pride" and a special mention of Israel.
Of all the nations that Mr Trump did mention, a notable absentee was Russia. That may have been because of the president's domestic troubles over Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
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