The United Nations General Assembly, a global diplomatic organization of 193 countries, meets this week in New York City with their speculative eyes on one verbally bombastic and erratic world leader: our president.
An international studies analyst famously described the week as “speed dating from hell.” The schedule is packed with meetings of cohorts of international leaders. In the meetings, leaders are expected to know the ins and outs of regional conflicts, global conflicts and the diplomatic histories of varying nations.
A big focus of the week is harnessing a response to North Korea’s muscle flexing of its nuclear capabilities. Kim Jong-un - or “Rocket Man,” as President Trump referred to him in a tweet this week - has been increasing the showmanship of the country’s intercontinental ballistic missile to the degree that it is irresponsible to brush off North Korea as an incapable or unlikely nuclear threat.
The President aimed to put pressure on China to alter their economic and diplomatic relations with North Korea. He called it an outrage that the neighboring superpower would continue deals with the budding nuclear power. The ambassador from North Korea left his seat before Trump started speaking.
Trump also delved into the Iran nuclear deal, a defining agreement of the Obama administration, saying that it was an “embarrassment.” The deal was negotiated with Tehran and the UN Security Council’s five leaders to develop a monitoring system of nuclear energy development. The newly elected President of France, Emmanuel Macron, said denouncing the deal would be a “grave error.” The president of Iran symbolically was not in attendance for Trump’s address.
A significant move was President Trump’s comments on sovereignty. Global leaders were waiting to see how he would emphasize his “America First” agenda, as the United States leader which irrevocably carries weight in the coalition that aims to solve global issues. His response was complicated. He said, “I will defend America’s interest above all else. But in fulfilling our obligations to our own nations, we also realize that it’s in everyone’s interest to seek a future where all nations can be sovereign, prosperous and secure.”
Sovereignty, while a founding principle, served rhetorically as muddling the President’s global policy priorities. Typically, the word is used to defend human rights violations by other countries, such as Russia’s Ukrainian intervention and the annexation of Crimea. It also complicates how Trump stands with the conflict in Venezuela, even though he condemned the government’s actions later in the speech. While it’s intent was a clarification of the “America First” policies, overall, the use of sovereignty in practice is left to be teased out.
Abundantly clear, however, is the president’s lack of commitment to global climate change. The week is ridden with political moves and symbolic gestures. Trump was not present at the opening address that emphasized the threat of climate change. This is supported by his removal of U.S. commitment to the global Paris Climate Agreement, and his absence at the address that framed the week emphasized that.
The President has three more days of “speed-dating” at the international forum. In that time, global leaders will have to form relationships (or partition them) from the leader of the United States who emphasizes an “America First” policy that undoubtedly has impacts for every other nation.