Trump beats ‘America first’ drum at UN as allies tread carefully

US President Donald Trump addresses the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, on September 22, 2026. — AFP pic

First Published: Wednesday, 23 Sep 2026 9:28 AM MYT

UNITED NATIONS, US, Sept 23 — President Donald Trump laid out a vision yesterday of a militaristic US unbound by international rules in a UN speech contrasting starkly with pleas at the world body for cooperation and restraint.

Trump insisted the US will not join global regulation of AI and urged countries to abandon the International Criminal Court which was set up to prosecute war crimes.

He also boasted about US control over Venezuelan oil, following the toppling of the government there by US forces, saying “to the victor belong the spoils.”

His most jarring statement, however, addressed the nearly seven-month war in Iran. Trump said he had a “big decision” on whether to make a deal or “annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly.”

Trump’s divisive turn at the UN lectern came after the organisation’s outgoing leader Antonio Guterres raised the alarm on AI and bluntly warned “killer robots must have no place in our future.”

Meanwhile, several leaders including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani used speeches to warn that the future of the Palestinians was at a crossroads as Israel expands West Bank settlements.

Other countries whose leaders addressed the UN’s flagship annual gathering sounded the alarm on widespread global unrest, while some criticised Washington’s actions on the world scene.

Here are the main developments:

France backs UN over ‘law of the jungle’ 

In a sharp contrast to Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron called for countries to recommit to international law and the UN system.

“The question put to us, in very simple terms, is whether we want to live in this state of nature, with a kind of return to the law of the jungle, or in a civilized international society,” he said.

US and Denmark ink Greenland deal 

Washington signed a security deal with the leaders of Greenland and Denmark after threatening to take Copenhagen’s strategically important Arctic Circle territory by force.

One section of the deal, which will be widely seen as seeking to bar Russian influence, prohibits non-NATO and non-EU countries, from “strategic sectors.”

The US will also build two military bases in southern and eastern Greenland under the deal.

Kyiv, Washington want Ukraine war over by winter 

Macron urged a moratorium on energy site strikes by Russia and Ukraine, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would be ready to halt strikes on Russian energy sites if Moscow agrees to do likewise.

Zelensky added that both Kyiv and Washington want the war to end before winter.

UN Security Council will discuss the war today.

Efforts led by Washington to broker a deal to end the hostilities — which have raged since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 — have stalled in recent months.

UN chief warns of W.Bank ‘ethnic cleansing’ 

Outgoing UN chief Guterres kicked off the week of speeches by warning of the “specter of ethnic cleansing” in Israel’s settlements expansion in the occupied West Bank.

“Violence, displacement and settlement expansion by Israel in the Occupied West Bank are bulldozing the path to peace,” he said.

Turkish president Erdogan called for immediate reconstruction of Gaza, urging world leaders to “exert greater pressure on Israel,” while Macron said the devastation there was a “spectacle that shames us all.”

Future of AI and climate change 

Guterres called for US-Chinese dialogue on the future of AI, akin to US-Soviet engagement at the height of the Cold War.

But Trump rejected international regulation of the technology calling such proposals a “globalist scheme.”

On another issue central to the future of the planet — climate change — Guterres singled out global energy companies for treating the atmosphere “as an open sewer.”

Brazil no one’s ‘backyard’ 

Brazilian President Lula Inacio Lula da Silva, running for reelection, said that his country did not fit in anyone’s “backyard” — a pointed reference to Trump’s claims to rule the roost across the Americas.

Lula also warned both foreign and domestic players against interfering in Brazil’s elections next month.

Cuba slams ‘falsehoods’ after Trump claim -

Cuba’s foreign minister reacted furiously to “falsehoods” spread by Trump, who told the UN the island “will fall.”

Cuban delegates left the room during Trump’s speech at a moment of exceptionally strained Washington-Havana relations. — AFP