Trump bashes globalism at UN, claims US now ‘stronger, richer’
US President Donald Trump made himself a target for criticism by attacking globalism and touting his America First foreign policy and trade stance in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
“We reject the ideology of globalism, and we embrace the doctrine of patriotism,” Trump said, highlighting achievements that he said have made the United States a “stronger, safer and a richer country” than before.
Trump said the US is taking a “hard look” at its foreign assistance to countries that don’t have American interests “at heart”.
He attacked organizations such as the UN Human Rights Council and International Criminal Court, saying the US “will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy”.
But when Trump said, “In less than two years, my administration accomplished more than almost any administrathat tion in the history of our country,” the audience broke out in laughter. Trump smiled and responded, “I did not expect that reaction, but that’s OK.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned in a speech of the dangers of nations turning inward. “Multilateralism is under fire precisely when we need it most,” he said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing on Wednesday that China hopes the US will take heed of the UN secretary-general, the president of the General Assembly and the voice of other countries.
“We hope the US, as the No 1 superpower, will think about its due role in pushing for the resolution of global and regional hot spot issues, addressing global threats and challenges and promoting global peace and development,” he said.
In response to Trump’s criticism of socialism, Geng said every country has the right to choose its own development path and social system.
Fan Jishe, a researcher at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the speech is a reflection of Trump’s style and his policies.
Zhang Zhixin, an associate researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said the remarks reflected the Trump administration’s “economic nationalism, diplomatic hegemonism and unilateralist policy orientation”.
Trump lashed out at Iran and the nuclear deal, asking “all nations to isolate Iran’s regime as long as its aggression continues”.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Trump seems determined to make international institutions ineffectual.
Three years before entering the White House, US President Donald Trump tweeted that his country needs “a president who isn’t a laughingstock to the entire world”, “a truly great leader, a genius at strategy and winning”. The laughter he drew at the United Nations General Assembly notwithstanding, he is almost there, at least in his own eyes, for his administration “has accomplished more than almost any administration” in US history and “the United States is a stronger, safer and a richer country” than when he assumed office “less than two years ago”.
It did not matter to Trump that he was touting his achievements to the wrong audience. His self-gratification may have been a harmless comic episode to the other national leaders and diplomats at the UN General Assembly. But his elaboration of US foreign policy is very bad news for the rest of the world.
What Trump delivered was tantamount to a farewell to the post-World War II world order featuring multilateralism, if not globalism.
Most countries will welcome Trump’s statement that “the US will not tell you how to live and work or worship. We only ask that you honor our sovereignty in return”. Few would argue against Trump embracing the “doctrine of patriotism”. Even “America First” is fine, as long as it does not cause harm to others.
But his rejection of the ideology of “globalism” is contrary to even his own claim that his government is “also standing up for the world”. His speech sends a clear message that the US, which in his words will “soon be more powerful than it has ever been before”, will go it alone and break away from the global governance regime which it helped build in the first place.
To Trump, the UN, a core institution and platform of postwar global governance, is “an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy” to which his government “will never surrender America’s sovereignty”.
The “independence and cooperation” Trump seeks is evidently not what multilateral institutions such as the UN stand for. Trump’s refusal to accept such longstanding, and mostly effective multilateral global governance mechanisms will cause an immeasurable loss to the international community, and significantly undermine global peace and security as far as such crucial institutions as the UN Security Council are concerned.
French President Emmanuel Macron rightly emphasized that “confronting multilateralism is not a sign of strength, rather it is a symptom of the weakness of intellect”.
Macron could also have said, an isolationist and protectionist US cannot go too far in its pursuit of greatness.