From Paris to Seoul, Cape Town to Paramaribo, world leaders rallied Tuesday behind the U.N. secretary-general’s urgent call for collective action against the planet’s most pressing crises—war, poverty, and climate upheaval. Yet President Donald Trump charted a different course, championing his 'America First' agenda.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the annual gathering of presidents, prime ministers, and monarchs at the General Assembly with a stirring appeal: to choose peace over conflict, uphold law over lawlessness, and embrace a future where nations collaborate rather than compete for narrow self-interest.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron cautioned that, eight decades after the U.N. was born from the ruins of World War II, “we’re isolating ourselves.”
“There’s more and more divisions, and that’s plagued the global order,” he said. “The world is breaking down, and that’s halting our collective capacity to resolve the major conflicts of our time and stopping us from addressing global challenges.”
French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized that the complexities of today’s world are no reason to “throw in the towel” when it comes to upholding the United Nations’ core values of peace, justice, human rights, and international cooperation. He stressed that only through mutual respect and collaboration among nations can the global community effectively combat military proliferation, tackle climate change, and achieve a “successful digital transformation.”
A call for collaboration
One speaker after another called for a renewed commitment to multilateralism, urging nations to work together in tackling global challenges.
Suriname’s President Jennifer Geerlings-Simons called multilateralism “one of humanity’s most important achievements, which needs our protection at this time of change.”
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said “our collective membership of the United Nations is our shared humanity in action,” and the U.N. at 80 compels members to build “an organization that is able to address our common challenges.”
As South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung put it, “The more difficult the times are, the more we must return to the basic spirit of the U.N.” He added, “We today must cooperate more, trust more, and join hands more firmly, in order to build a better future, a better world for future generations.”
The General Assembly session resumes Wednesday, featuring addresses from the leaders of Ukraine, Iran, and Syria.
In his remarks, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted the world’s shift toward a more multipolar order — a clear acknowledgment of the rising economic influence of China and India, and a pointed challenge to the U.S. claim to superpower primacy. He cautioned that while a world of many powers can be richer and more dynamic, without strong international cooperation and effective global institutions, the result could be “chaos.”
Speaking at the General Assembly for the first time since his re-election last November, Trump held firm, delivering a resolute “America First” address.
The United States has the strongest borders, military, friendships “and the strongest spirit of any nation on the face of the earth,” he boasted. “This is indeed the golden age of America.”
He cast the United Nations as ineffective, claiming it was “not even coming close to living up” to its potential, and singled out an escalator that halted on the way to the assembly chamber and a malfunctioning teleprompter as examples of its failings. The U.N. explained that the escalator stopped for safety reasons, while the White House took responsibility for the teleprompter glitch.
Trump met with Guterres
Trump criticized the U.N. at the assembly, saying it offers “empty words — and empty words don’t solve war,” yet his tone softened during a later meeting with Secretary-General Guterres.
“Our country is behind the United Nations 100%,” the president told Guterres at the start of their first meeting since his reelection. “I may disagree with it sometimes, but I am so behind it because the potential for peace at this institution is great.”
U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described his follow-up private meeting as “very good” in an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday.
Fletcher said the discussions between U.N. and U.S. leaders covered ending global conflicts, improving efficiency, expanding private-sector involvement, and advancing humanitarian efforts. “At least we’ve got a conversation going. This is dialogue. This is diplomacy. And it’s technicolor — and it’s glorious,” he added.
The U.N. is confronting severe financial shortfalls as the U.S., its largest contributor, along with several other nations, has scaled back funding. Secretary-General Guterres warned that these aid cuts are “wreaking havoc,” describing them as “a death sentence for many.”
Fletcher noted that this year’s U.N. appeal for $29 billion to aid 114 million people worldwide has received just 19% of the requested funds. He said he has been engaging with Saudi, European, American, and other leaders on the funding shortfall, describing the situation as “a work in progress.”
U.N. talks about the wars in Ukraine and Gaza
Elsewhere at the U.N., the Security Council convened back-to-back emergency meetings Tuesday to address two major conflicts: the more than three-year war in Ukraine triggered by Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022, and the nearly two-year war in Gaza following Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
In a striking reversal, Trump took to social media shortly after meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to declare his belief that Ukraine can reclaim all territory lost to Russia. Previously, the U.S. leader had urged Ukraine to consider territorial concessions to end the war.
Tuesday’s emergency meeting on Gaza underscored the isolation of the Trump administration, Israel’s closest ally.
A day after France led a push by several nations to expand recognition of Palestinian statehood, the U.N. Security Council once again exposed the deep rift between the veto-wielding United States and much of the international community over how to end the war in Gaza and resolve the nearly eight-decade-long Middle East conflict.
While most nations urged an immediate ceasefire and a surge of humanitarian aid, new U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz dismissed the meeting as a disappointing “charade” and lamented that its timing on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, prevented Israel from participating.
Speaking at the assembly earlier, Jordan’s King Abdullah II said it’s an illusion that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government “is a willing partner for peace,” pointing to its “hostile rhetoric: and violations of the sovereignty of Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Tunisia and most recently Qatar.”
“How long before we recognize the Palestinians as people who aspire to the same things you and I do — and we act on that recognition?,” Abdullah asked. “How long before we recognize that statehood is not something Palestinians need to earn? It is not a reward — it is an indisputable right.”
Photo: President Donald Trump address the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, at U.N. headquarters.
