Trump hits Russia, backs Israel in wide-ranging UN speech

UNITED NATIONS: US President Donald Trump warned Russia on Tuesday (Sep 23) that he is prepared to impose strong economic measures if it does not work towards ending the war in Ukraine, and rejected a global move towards recognition of a Palestinian state in a combative speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

In a wide-ranging foreign policy speech that included scathing criticism of the UN and European nations, Trump warned that migration is sending Western nations "to hell" and said world leaders should abandon efforts to fight climate change, which he called “the greatest con job” in the world.

Taken as a whole, the 56-minute speech was a rebuke to the world body and a return to form for Trump, who had routinely bashed the UN during his first term as president. Leaders gave him polite applause when he exited the chamber.

Trump's warning to Russia was his latest attempt to pressure Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has resisted the US president's entreaties to pull back from the biggest war in Europe since World War II.

Trump said he wants US allies to impose the same measures on Russia that he is proposing to apply pressure to Putin.

The US president has warned about the possibility of sanctions on Russia several times but has yet to follow through. Lately, he has demanded that Europe stop all Russian oil purchases before he will take action.

"In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the US is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs, which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly," he said.

But for the measures to be effective, he said: "European nations, all of you gathered here, would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures."

He did not detail the measures, but he has been considering a package that include sanctions against countries that do business with Russia, like India and China. The main buyers of Russian oil in Europe are Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey.

Trump planned a meeting later in the day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has been pressing for more US support to resist Russian advances.

On the Israel-Palestinian conflict, Trump gave a thumbs down to efforts by world leaders to embrace a Palestinian state, a move that faces fierce resistance from Israel.

"The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists, for their atrocities," he said, repeating his call for the return of hostages taken by the Palestinian militant group.

Trump said the US wants a ceasefire-for-hostages deal that would see the return of all remaining hostages, alive and dead.

"We have to stop the war in Gaza immediately. We have to immediately negotiate peace," he said.

He was to discuss the future of Gaza during afternoon talks with several Gulf leaders.

CRITICISM OF MIGRATION POLICIES

Trump argued that other world leaders should adopt his tough-on-migrants policies, touting his campaign to arrest and deport migrants in the US illegally, a stance that many countries around the world have viewed sceptically.

He accused the UN, without providing evidence, of supporting "uncontrolled migration", accusing it of "funding an assault" on Western nations that he described as an "invasion" before turning his fire on his supposed allies in Europe.

"Your countries are going to hell," he told European leaders.

"Europe is in serious trouble. They've been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody has ever seen before. Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe," the president said.

"You need strong borders and traditional energy sources if you're going to be great again," he told the world leaders.

American foreign policy expert Esther Brimmer said Trump "greatly expanded" on ideas from his first presidential term between 2017 and 2021, when he gave speeches to the UN on immigration and migration.

"In a sense, he has been consistent in these areas, but now he's expanded his emphasis," said the James H Binger senior fellow in global governance at US think tank Council on Foreign Relations.

"His main message to the international community was that he sees the world as a world of states. He does not talk about the community among people beyond states."

"He's about the power of governments ... and a very limited and focused understanding of culture and society was on display," Brimmer, who is also a former US Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, told CNA's Asia First. 

She pointed out that Trump's mother had emigrated to the US from Scotland, as well as his great-great-grandparents in the 19th century.

"(He has) a narrow understanding of the richness of societies in countries, and the fact that migrants have been part of that. And that is what underpins much of the changes in (his) immigration policies," she added.

Trump, who has cast himself as a peacemaker in a bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize, complained that the UN did not support his efforts to end conflicts around the world.

He twinned his complaint with personal grievances about the UN's infrastructure, saying he and first lady Melania Trump were briefly marooned on a UN escalator and that his teleprompter was not initially working.

"These are the two things I got from the UN - a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter," Trump said, noting that Melania Trump nearly fell when the escalator stopped abruptly.

Since taking office again, Trump has upended US foreign policy, slashing foreign aid, imposing tariffs on friend and foe alike and cultivating warmer, if volatile, relations with Russia.

At the same time he has sought, so far with only limited success, to solve some of the world's most intractable conflicts.

Trump is among some 150 heads of state or government are expected to address the chamber this week. He spoke eight months into a second term marked by severe aid cuts that have sparked humanitarian worries and have raised doubts about the UN's future.

According to planning documents reviewed by Reuters, the Trump administration plans to call this week for sharply narrowing the right to asylum, seeking to undo the post-World War II framework around humanitarian protection.

Trump's more restrictive stance would include requiring asylum seekers to claim protection in the first country they enter, not a nation of their choosing, a State Department spokesperson said.