Donald Trump used his first address to the United Nations General Assembly in six years to launch a blistering attack on European allies, accusing them of allowing immigration to 'destroy your heritage'. Speaking on the 80th anniversary of the UN's founding, the US president called on nations to close their borders and expel foreigners, describing the world body as a corrupt and feckless force promoting a 'globalist migration agenda'.
Trump singled out London Mayor Sadiq Khan, claiming the city had 'changed' under his leadership and was moving towards sharia law. 'I look at London, where you have a terrible mayor, terrible, terrible mayor,' he said. He also criticised the Paris climate agreement, which he abandoned during his first term, calling climate change 'the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world'.
The president urged European nations to embrace a nationalist approach, saying open borders were a 'failed experiment' that left countries 'going to hell'. He claimed UN programmes funded immigrant journeys to the US and accused European states of continuing to buy Russian energy despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. 'They're funding the war against themselves,' he said.
Trump repeated his claim to have ended seven wars during his administration, contrasting his actions with the UN's 'empty words'. He offered to levy heavy tariffs on Russia to end the conflict in Ukraine, but insisted European nations must first stop purchasing Russian energy products.
In response, French President Emmanuel Macron defended the current international order, saying that the UN's 'harshest critics are also those that want to change the rule of the game, because they want to exert domination'. Macron warned of a risk of seeing 'the survival of the fittest'.
