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Here's What To Expect From Trump At The United Nations
After visiting Naples, Fla. last week to survey the damage wrought by Hurricane Irma, President
Donald Trump is traveling to his hometown, New York City, Monday for a week of speeches
and meetings with foreign leaders during a session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The highlight of the trip is, of course, Trump's first speech before the General Assembly,
which will take place Tuesday.
Trump started the week addressing 120 world leaders at a meeting on reforming the international
organization, which Trump has repeatedly criticized since taking Office.
In his remarks, Trump said the organization wasn't living up to its "potential" because
it has been bogged down by its bureaucracy.
He encouraged "all member states to look at ways to take bold stands at the United Nations
with an eye toward changing business as usual and not being beholden to ways of the past,
which were not working,� according to the New York Post.
As the Hill reports, his Monday schedule also includes meetings with Latin American leaders,
as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
�Trump's Monday will be packed with meetings, leading up to his first-ever speech to the
general assembly on Tuesday � a highly anticipated address in which the president is expected
to discuss the specific threats of North Korea, Iran and global terrorism.
The president's schedule also includes meeting with representatives from more than 120 nations
as well as the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, to discuss reforming the international
organization.
Trump has been highly critical of the U.N. and the U.S. is backing changes it hopes will
make the organization more efficient and effective.
The president will then meet with leaders from France and Israel with an expected focus
on the Middle East � and Iran in particular � for what national security adviser H.R.
McMaster has called that country�s �destabilizing behavior� in the region.
Trump will close out his first day of meetings at a working dinner with Latin American leaders
to discuss the crisis in Venezuela, as well as how to maximize economic partnerships between
the U.S. and South America.� In
The Hill�s sources say that, while not a specific focus of any of Trump�s meetings,
it�s expected that threats posed by North Korea�s nuclear ambitions and global terrorism
in the wake of an attack on a London subway will be �hot topics.�
UN Ambassador Nikki Haley provided her what amounts to a preview of the administrations
priorities during a press briefing last week:
And here's a summary of the US's top priorities for the week as the administration seeks to
cultivate support for its agenda among its partners in the international community, according
to the Hill:
UN REFORM
Since taking office, Trump has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with the UN,
complaining that the US pays too much to fund and host the organization while receiving
comparatively little in return.
Meanwhile, peacekeeping missions should be examined for excessive spending.
Trump administration officials have described the UN as bloated and inefficient, and too
hostile toward Israel.
According to the Hill, Trump appears to have an ally for reform in Guterres, who assumed
the role of secretary general in January.
IRAN
Trump will meet with Netanyahu and Macron to discuss Iran.
In recent months, the administration has begun stepping up its rhetoric against Iran, an
issue that has been relegated to the back burner by the US�s troubles with North Korea.
�While their conversations will be wide-ranging, we expect that Iran's destabilizing behavior,
including its violation of the sovereignty of nations across the Middle East, to be a
major focus,� McMaster said at a press briefing on Friday.
The White House has until mid-October to notify Congress of whether it believes Iran is complying
with the terms of the nuclear deal brokered during the Obama administration by the five
permanent members of the UN Security Council, along with the European Union.
The administration�s view, as expressed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, is that
while Iran may be abiding by the terms of the deal, the country is seeking to violate
the spirit of the agreement through a litany of other �destabilizing activities in the
region.�
�Since the nuclear deal has been concluded what we have witnessed is Iran has stepped
up its destabilizing activities in Yemen.
It's stepped up its destabilizing activities in Syria.
It exports arms to Hezbollah and other terrorist groups.
And it continues to conduct a very active ballistic missile program,� Tillerson said
Sunday on CBS News's "Face the Nation."
�None of that, I would believe, is consistent with that preamble commitment that was made
by everyone," Tillerson said Sunday.
These are some of the same concerns voiced by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt
during this summer�s GCC diplomatic crisis, when those states abruptly cut off diplomatic
relations with Qatar over allegations that it has enabled Iran to sow discord in the
region.
VENEZUELA
The rapidly deteriorating situation in Venezuela � which just last week announced that it
would abandon the US dollar and begin accepting oil payments in Chinese yuan, dealing a significant
blow to the petrodollar regime � is expected to be the focus of Trump�s Monday night
meeting with Latin American leaders.
The US believes that the vote organized by President Nicolas Maduro earlier this summer
about whether to form a new national Congress was essentially a fraud.
The new body is expected to help Maduro rewrite the country�s constitution to cement his
grip on power, despite the worst civil unrest the country has ever seen.
The Trump administration has adopted a bevy of economic sanctions against the country
and its officials, banning American companies from �participating in Maduro�s liquidation
of the Venezuelan economy.�
However, UN Ambassador Haley said at a Friday press conference the president is �unlikely�
to speak with Maduro directly.
�As you know, the United States designated President Maduro after he victimized his own
people, denied them their rights under his own constitution,� Haley said.
�And I think as the president has made clear, he�s willing to talk at some point in the
future, but it would have to be after rights are restored to the Venezuelan people.�
NORTH KOREA
Trump will speak with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon
Jae-in later in the week, but throughout the summit, the administration will be rallying
support for what Tillerson described as a �peaceful pressure campaign� from world
leaders meant to force North Korea to the bargaining table.
The UN Security Council has, of course, passed two rounds of economic sanctions against the
restive, isolated North in recent months � but as Haley said on Sunday, she believes the
council has just about reached its limit.
Trump does not have a meeting scheduled with Chinese President Xi Jinping � who is probably
preoccupied with the Communist Party�s upcoming once-every-five-years leadership transition,
which will take place in November.
But according to the Hill, the administration will be looking to pressure China where it
can, on North Korea, trade and a host of other issues.
Meanwhile, Trump�s first speech before the UN General Assembly, set for Tuesday morning.
Iran and North Korea are widely expected to be the focus.
But according to Axios, Trump�s tone will be more important than the specific topics
he covers.
Here�s what Axios says world leaders will be watching for during Trump�s speech:
How will Trump's 'America First' strategy measure up to the UN's 'world first' agenda?
"The perception ... is that President Trump is unilateralist and isolationist.
Trump has the opportunity to present and describe his vision and strategy.
The world will be all ears," Zalmay Khalilzad, UN ambassador under President Bush, told the
Times.
How will the president address the North Korean threat?
Some countries "fear that the fighting talk of this impulsive president could make things
worse rather than better," Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador, said.
How will Trump tackle UN reform?
The president, along with prominent Republicans, has been vocal about inefficiency at the UN.
He's got a meeting on UN reform Monday.
To summarize Axios, the biggest question that Trump�s fellow world leaders will have ahead
of the event is: Will Trump�s speech be more �fire and fury� directed at North
Korea and the US�s many geopolitical adversaries?
Or will it be conciliatory and measured?
Not unlike the speech he gave to a joint session of Congress earlier this year that was a stand-in
for the State of the Union?
At least as far as markets are concerned, it may not matter � that is, unless Trump
says something unexpected about tax reform, or Gary Cohn�s future in the White House
(or at the Fed).