PM mum in face of Trump talk
Ardern doesn’t have the luxury of voicing opinion bluntly with trade terms at stake
‘Not good’ was United States President Donald Trump’s verdict of world events ranging from Iran to trade when he spoke to leaders at the UN General Assembly, including Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
It was certainly true of the weather in New York yesterday as Trump delivered his statement to leaders.
It was hosing down so heavily an alert was issued to all cellphones in New York warning of flash flooding.
But if it was also Ardern’s verdict on Trump’s messages to the United Nations, was hard to tell.
One of the few clues was a lengthy pause when she was asked what parts of his speech she had agreed with.
The pause went on until someone commented on it.
Other leaders had made their “not good” views clear at the very start of his speech, which included a lengthy diatribe about the evils of the globalism the UN was based on.
He began with a boast that his twoyear-old Administration “has accomplished more than almost any Administration country”.
The leaders’ response was a multilateral one: They laughed.
It was enough to stop Trump in his tracks: “I didn’t expect that reaction but that’s okay.”
It was that laugh that led the bulletins from then on.
Ardern did not even allow herself that indulgence. She sat completely deadpan at that moment and as Trump set out plans to restrict foreign aid to countries which were “friends” of the US, criticised the UN, and other countries for not putting enough funding into it.
“We reject the ideology of globalism and we embrace the doctrine of sovereignty,” he said.
Trump said every country should be able to pursue its own unique version of sovereignty. “The US will the history of our Jacinda Ardern and Christiane Amanpour covered a wide range of topics.
not tell you how to live, or work or worship. We only ask you honour our sovereignty in return.”
In the next breath, he criticised Germany’s energy policy, saying it was on track to become totally dependent on Russian oil. “Not good.”
A photo of Germany’s delegation taken at that moment showed delegates
either laughing or with a look of disbelief.
Ardern remained a sphinx. Even Christiane Amanpour hadn’t been able to drag any direct comments about Trump out of her during a 12-minute interview on CNN.
Ardern will deliver her own statement to the General Assembly