Trump aggressive on world stage

Trump’s meetings with world leaders

expectations about what he is going to say.”

Richard Gowan, a U.N. expert with the European Council on Foreign Relations, said Trump “performed poorly” at previous international meetings, and diplomats are concerned about a rerun. “The swirl of minor leaders and frazzled diplomats around U.N. headquarters can be quite disconcerting, even for relatively calm leaders,” Gowan said. “Trump may become irritable.”

Trump’s aides said the president was pleased with his summit meetings. Trump is proud of commitments by NATO members to spend more on their national defense. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump developed good relations with world leaders, “so they can focus on big problems like North Korea.”

Trump’s behavior at the United Nations will be highly scrutinized, given how he has criticized the body over the past year.

During the presidential transition in December, Trump criticized a U.N. vote condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In a tweet, Trump said the world body had become “just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!”

In another post, he wrote, “As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th,” but he did not elaborate.

At least two key world leaders won’t be at the United Nations this year: Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom Trump is lobbying especially hard to pressure North Korea, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is involved in disputes over North Korea and Syria and whose relationship with Trump is controversial.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has clashed with Trump over trade and refugee policy, is not likely to attend, as she is locked in a re-election campaign.

Trump’s trip to New York City opens Monday.