President Trump will address global leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday morning as he is confronted with a deeply unpopular war in Iran, rising concerns about the unpredictability of artificial intelligence and allies that have begun to openly question whether the United States remains a credible partner.
In addition to a series of global crises, Mr. Trump is also juggling a packed schedule. After delivering his address, the president is expected to meet with leaders of Britain, Japan, Venezuela and a number of Persian Gulf nations.
He is also expected to sign an agreement with Denmark and Greenland that Mr. Trump says will expand the U.S. security presence in the semiautonomous Danish territory, according to a White House official speaking on the condition of anonymity to preview the schedule. The signing comes after Mr. Trump this year demanded total control of Greenland, a threat that prompted intense criticism from allies who will be at the opening of the United Nations session in New York.
Mr. Trump will again face a United Nations that he has long derided as outdated, inefficient and beholden to powers that revel in defying American wishes. But this year, more than most, he is increasingly isolated on the world stage. Here are some of the more pressing issues he will encounter at the 81st session of the General Assembly.
Frayed Alliances
Mr. Trump enters the summit with a track record of attacking, rather than uniting, many of the attendees.
When he first attended the gathering as president in 2017, Mr. Trump was largely subdued. That was not the case last year, when he questioned whether the U.N should exist, lectured the world leaders about their immigration policies and bashed allies and foes across the globe. “Your countries are going to hell,” Mr. Trump said.
But that was before his biggest international gamble yet — starting a war with Iran that he was convinced would topple its 47-year-old leadership — went south. He makes no secret of his anger at allies who refused to help open the Strait of Hormuz and who declared that his war was illegal.
The president may be the odd man out even more so this time around. He has attacked many European leaders for not supporting the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. His threats to take over Greenland nearly upended the Western alliance and in part prompted Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada to warn of a “rupture” in the world order. The United States and Canada are still locked in a trade war.
Mr. Trump met with France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, at Trump Tower on Monday, and it remains to be seen how Mr. Trump will approach his first meeting with Britain’s new prime minister, Andy Burnham. But the introduction will come after Mr. Trump weighed in on a highly divisive subject this month by endorsing the unification of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is still part of the United Kingdom. That came just days after Mr. Burnham had said reunification was off the table for now.
Instability in the Middle East
Mr. Trump will join members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes the U.S. allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. The nations in the Gulf region are likely to raise concerns about the soaring energy prices caused by the fallout of the war in Iran, which has shown little sign of ending.
Mr. Trump will argue in his speech that the war in Iran is necessary to prevent the nation from having a nuclear weapon, according to a U.S. official speaking on the condition of anonymity to preview the summit. That message has not helped quell worries among Americans over the war in Iran, its disruption of supply chains and the fueling of economic anxiety.
In addition to the conflict in Iran, Mr. Trump must also decide whether he should aid the Saudis in their fight against the Iranian-backed Houthis. Mr. Trump so far has resisted the Saudi Arabia’s appeals to have the United States launch strikes in Yemen.
A.I.
The threat posed by artificial intelligence has jumped to the top of the U.N. agenda, after a summer of surprises, including A.I. agents that broke out of the “sandboxes” where they were being tested, conducted cyberattacks on their own and covered their tracks. Now Mr. Trump, while dismissing potential serious threats as a “HOAX” and deflecting calls for him to impose guardrails on the new technology, is trying to figure out the value of slowing down Chinese progress, as well. He has said that efforts to rein in A.I. amount to a “sick conspiracy.”
Some officials in the Trump administration are urging caution in embracing artificial intelligence, particularly after some A.I. agents went rogue. But Mr. Trump’s anti-regulatory stance is also fueled by influential Silicon Valley voices like David Sacks, the venture capitalist who interceded to weaken an executive order in May that would have required safety reviews of new A.I. models; Mark Zuckerberg of Meta; and Jensen Huang of Nvidia.
Venezuela
Mr. Trump will have his first in-person meeting with Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s new leader after the United States deposed and captured Nicolás Maduro, who is imprisoned just across the East River in Brooklyn.
Ms. Rodríguez has gained favor with Mr. Trump since the military operation, particularly by allowing the United States to expand its access and control over Venezuela’s oil reserves. Mr. Trump last month announced a deal to take majority control of a huge portion of Venezuela’s oil reserves, as he hopes to assert dominance over energy in the Western Hemisphere.
Discussion about this post