UN General Debate in New York - Trump speech planned

General Assembly in New York: What Does Trump Have to Say to the UN This Time?

A meeting with Zelensky, a Greenland agreement: On the sidelines of the UN General Debate, Trump has several appointments on his schedule. He also plans to deliver a speech again — following a memorable appearance last year.

Once a year, heads of state and government and foreign ministers from more than 120 countries around the world gather at the United Nations in New York. The High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly is also known as the "World Cup of Diplomacy." On the very first day, US President Donald Trump's speech is eagerly anticipated.

Last year, Trump's appearance at the United Nations was still generating discussion days later. Less because of his speech, and more because the President and First Lady Melania got stuck on an escalator — and then Trump's teleprompter also failed.

Without a script, Trump railed against the dilapidated condition of the UN headquarters building — which caused him to forget to announce additional cuts to the United Nations. Daniel Forti, a UN expert at the independent think tank International Crisis Group, learned of this afterward from a reliable source: "Trump was talking about marble in the General Assembly building and the malfunctioning teleprompter, so he skipped the paragraph in his speech about additional cuts to the United Nations."

Speech Content: Unclear

"It could have been worse" — after Trump's speech, many staff members at UN headquarters were relieved. The withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations, which had been feared a year ago, is no longer a topic today. In part because Trump enjoys the appearance in the golden hall of the UN, filled to the last seat. What messages he has for the assembled heads of government from around the world? Nobody knows, emphasizes UN expert Forti. Even Trump's closest advisers and speechwriters apparently had no clarity on this just days before the start of the UN General Assembly.

A year ago, Trump presented himself as a president who had ended more wars than the United Nations — and as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. This year, however, he must justify his war against Iran as well as the nighttime military operation in Venezuela. Both are contested among international law experts.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who will speak before Trump, has also repeatedly lamented that Russia and the United States no longer comply with international law and that this has no consequences for them. This is having a negative effect on the behavior of other states, he said at a press conference last week: "Because they are not punished for it, we are seeing more and more states violating international law and infringing human rights — and they too are getting away with it completely unpunished."

Meeting Between Trump and Zelensky Planned

The UN is also being sidelined as a peace mediator, UN expert Forti criticizes. In the major wars and conflicts — from Iran to Gaza and the West Bank to the war in Ukraine — the veto powers the United States and Russia are rejecting greater UN involvement.

Progress this week is expected at best from bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly: Trump is meeting today with the Gulf states and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He will also sign a Greenland agreement with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's head of government Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

For Guterres, this is the last UN General Assembly as Secretary-General before his second term ends in December. Recently, he has appeared quite frustrated in his role, which many call "the most thankless job in the world." Guterres has noted that people often forget that the UN Secretary-General has "no power, no army, no intelligence service, and not much money either."

One in five UN posts cut

In fact, Guterres spent much of the past year dealing with the UN's financial crisis rather than mediating peace. Just days ago, the US government transferred 725 million dollars to the United Nations. Otherwise, the US would have risked losing its voting rights at the UN.

Yet even after this transfer, the US government still owes the United Nations more than 1.3 billion dollars. Guterres has had to make cuts to peacekeeping missions and humanitarian operations, eliminating one in every five UN positions.

Who will succeed the Portuguese diplomat is also among the topics being discussed in the many bilateral talks between heads of state and government in New York. After three straw polls in the UN Security Council, no clear frontrunner has emerged among the eight candidates. Even though Annalena Baerbock, as President of the UN General Assembly, had championed a transparent selection process, the veto powers could ultimately agree on an entirely different person.