Donald Trump has used a speech at the United Nations to criticise countries that have recognised Palestinian statehood, accusing them of encouraging the fighting to continue in the Middle East.

In a lengthy speech laden with characteristic hyperbole, the US president also chastised the UN for failing to stop international conflicts and leaving it up to him to end wars on his own.

He described climate change as a "con job" that would cause nations to fail.

 

Donald Trump uses United Nations speech to lay out the US's complaints with the world

By Brad Ryan in Washington DC

 

And he urged Europe to follow his example in cracking down on migration, telling its leaders: "Your countries are going to hell."

Mr Trump's speech was one of the first at the UN General Assembly's annual meeting of world leaders in New York.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also attending the event for the first time, but no sideline meeting with Mr Trump is scheduled. Instead, the pair will meet in Washington on October 20, the White House has told the ABC.

'Rewards' for terrorism

Without naming Australia, or the nine other nations that on Tuesday told the UN they were now recognising Palestine, Mr Trump repeated his criticism — shared by Israel — that the move was a reward for Hamas.

"As if to encourage continued conflict, some of this body are seeking to unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state," Mr Trump said.

"The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists, for their atrocities … including October 7.

"This could have been solved so long ago. But instead of giving in to Hamas's ransom demands, those who want peace should be united with one message: release the hostages now."

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the same criticism, but said statehood recognition "really won't be relevant at the end of the day".

"It really is them responding to their own domestic politics, protesters in their streets and things like that," he said.

More than 150 of the UN's 193 member states now recognise Palestine as a sovereign nation.

On Sunday, Australia, the UK, Canada and Portugal joined that group.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron and five other European leaders used UN speeches to confirm their countries were also now formally recognising Palestine.

The move is designed to create momentum towards a two-state solution and increase diplomatic pressure on Israel, which is committing a genocide in Gaza, per the findings of a UN inquiry released last week.

Many of the countries now recognising Palestine say the move isolates Hamas, rather than rewards it. The Palestinian Authority says it will work to ensure Hamas is excluded from any role in a future government in exchange for the recognition.

Grievances with the world

At 56 minutes, Mr Trump's speech went well beyond the 15-minute limit. But, unlike for speakers at Tuesday's conference on Palestinian recognition, the microphone was not muted when the allocated time was reached.

His remarks on Palestinian recognition were brief. He used the bulk of the speech to outline a litany of other complaints with the rest of the world, while promoting the US as the "hottest country anywhere".

"There is no other country even close," Mr Trump said.

In contrast, Europe was being "devastated" by climate change policies and immigration, he said.

"This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer," he said.

"You're doing it because you want to be nice. You want to be politically correct, and you're destroying your heritage."

Describing climate change as "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world", Mr Trump warned world leaders to "get away from this green scam" or risk seeing their nations fail.

"The carbon footprint is a hoax made up by people with evil intentions," he said. "And they're heading down a path of total destruction."

He cited statistics that showed migrants were over-represented in European prisons, and said the continent needed to "end the failed experiment of open borders".

"You have to end it now. I can tell you, I'm really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell."

Making peace

Mr Trump repeated his claim that he had personally ended seven wars, which is disputed by expert observers and some of the countries involved in those conflicts.

"It's too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them," he said.

"I never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help in finalising the deal."

The UN had "tremendous potential", he said, but was not living up to it.

"What is the purpose of the United Nations?" he said. When it comes to resolving global conflicts, "all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up".

Mr Trump is a consistent critic of the UN, and he has cut US funding to some of its bodies.

On his first day back in the White House in January, he signed orders to pull the US out of the World Health Organization and withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.

He later ordered an end to US participation in the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

He has also cut billions of dollars from American foreign aid programs — a move that could lead to 14 million deaths worldwide, according to research published in the Lancet journal in June.

American funding cuts mean UN bodies now face significant budget shortfalls.

But in his UN speech, he said his administration would lead a new international effort to enforce the Biological Weapons Convention, a disarmament treaty signed by almost all UN member states.

'An age of reckless disruption'

Ahead of Mr Trump's speech, UN Secretary-General António Guterres argued international co-operation through the UN had "never been more essential", but also argued it was failing in many of its aims.

"We have entered into an age of reckless disruption and relentless human suffering," he told the gathering.

"Look around. The principles of the United Nations that you have established are under siege."

While in New York, Mr Trump is meeting with Mr Guterres. He is also holding a series of sit-down meetings with travelling world leaders, including from Argentina, the EU, and a group of eight Muslim-majority countries.

After meeting with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, he used his social media platform to say he believed Ukraine could defeat Russia and regain its lost territory.

He has previously said Ukraine needed to be prepared to cede land.

"I think Ukraine, with the support of the European Union, is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back in its original form," he wrote.

"With time, patience, and the financial support of Europe and, in particular, NATO, the original Borders from where this War started, is very much an option. Why not?"

Despite diplomatic efforts from Australia, Mr Albanese remains off the president's schedule during this trip.

The prime minister may have the chance to speak to the US president at a Trump-hosted function for more than 100 world leaders on Tuesday night, local time.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-24/united-nations-general-assembly-donald-trump-speech/105809190

 

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