Trump’s U.N. Speech to Tout Achievements at a Place Where He Has Given Up Influence
The U.S. has left ambassador posts unfilled for months, aligned with Russia on key votes and trimmed its contribution to the global body’s budget
The U.S. backs reimposing U.N. sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, showing cooperation with allies despite other disagreements.
- President Trump will address the U.N. General Assembly, promoting his vision of unilateral U.S. power despite reduced U.S. engagement.
President Trump’s speech Tuesday to the United Nations General Assembly in New York will tout his assertion of unilateral U.S. power abroad to a global body where his administration has surrendered much of its once-leading role.
The U.S. has slashed its contribution to the U.N. budget, positioned itself against decadeslong allies on the Security Council, and been without an ambassador for eight months until Friday when the Senate confirmed Mike Waltz, Trump’s former national security adviser, for the job.
In a stark sign of the waning U.S. influence, France, the U.K., Canada and Australia are planning to jointly announce Monday at the annual opening of the General Assembly that they are recognizing a Palestinian state in defiance of Trump’s wishes and those of America’s closest Middle Eastern ally, Israel.
The U.S. has sided multiple times with Russia in the Security Council, including in February when the two longtime adversaries joined in rejecting a Ukraine resolution condemning Moscow’s invasion. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the U.N. has “tremendous potential” at the same time he was signing an executive order cutting its funding.
The U.N. has long been a favorite target of Republicans. But its defenders say the Trump administration’s disregard has been especially damaging at a time of heated international tensions and bloody conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine.
“The Trump administration’s approach to the U.N. has been destructive and at times vindictive,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director at the International Crisis Group, a think tank. “The administration seems immune to concerns about reputational damage.”
Administration officials say the U.N. is riven with financial mismanagement and ineffective peacekeeping and development programs that shouldn’t be underwritten by U.S. tax dollars.
The U.S. can exert its global influence outside the U.N. and its many institutions, they say, arguing that the world body appears incapable of tackling crises and is increasingly hostile to Israel.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said Trump would “lay out his vision for a safe, prosperous, peaceful America and world” at the UNGA. “Under President Trump’s leadership, our country is strong again, which has made the entire globe more stable,” he added.
When Trump and top aides travel to New York in the coming week, one of their main goals will be countering recognition of a Palestinian state.
The move might harm the chances of a two-state solution, senior administration officials say, emboldening Hamas and perhaps encouraging Israel to annex parts of the West Bank.
“We think it undermines future prospects of peace in the region,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a visit to Israel this past week.
During the week, Trump administration officials will push other nations to adopt restrictions on asylum rights, analysts said, after getting a preview of his remarks from administration officials.
The White House is working to schedule Trump for bilateral talks with world leaders such as Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, two people familiar with the planning said. Trump also might meet with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres for the first time in his second term.
The White House hasn’t commented on Trump’s schedule of meetings.
During a visit to the U.K. on Thursday, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin has “let me down” but has yet to impose any new U.S. sanctions on Moscow as it drags its heels on peace talks. He said the U.S. would apply more financial pressure on Moscow but only if European countries cease purchasing Russian oil and gas.
“I’m willing to do other things, but not when the people that I’m fighting for are buying oil from Russia,” Trump told reporters. “If the oil price comes down, very simply, Russia will settle.”
In one example of cooperation with customary allies, the U.S. is backing European governments’ move to reimpose U.N. sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program, a process known as “snapback.” Iran has continued work on its nuclear program in violation of a 2015 agreement, prompting European signatories to reinstate once-lifted sanctions.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently told Israel’s Channel 12 that the sanctions would likely be reapplied, after Iran showed no signs of placing limits on its nuclear program.
Trump’s return to the Oval Office has left U.N. diplomats fearful that the international body will be crippled by steep U.S. funding cuts. That contrasts with his first term when he engaged more regularly with Guterres. Even as he criticized the U.N., he leaned heavily on it to advance foreign policy priorities, including with North Korea over nuclear talks.
“The U.N. is a useful foreign policy tool,” said Robert Anthony Wood, a former career ambassador who served in senior posts at the U.S. mission to the U.N. “What could be more ‘America First’ than advancing U.S. interests using a major foreign policy tool we actually first created?”
Write to Robbie Gramer at robbie.gramer@wsj.com and Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com
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Appeared in the September 22, 2025, print edition as 'Trump to Address U.N., Where U.S. Has Ceded Influence'.