President Trump addresses United Nations General Assembly

ByAlexandra HutzlerABCNews logo
Tuesday, September 23, 2025
President Trump addresses United Nations General Assembly

President Donald Trump delivered a combative speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday morning, criticizing the international body while touting the work of his administration.

Trump spared no criticism, beginning with his predecessor former President Joe Biden before taking aim at world leaders on everything from migration to the Russia-Ukraine war.

"One year ago, our country was in deep trouble. But today, just eight months into my administration, we're the hottest country anywhere in the world, and there is no other country even close," he said at the top of his remarks.

The president then turned his attention the United Nations, accusing the organization of ignoring conflicts around the world that he helped solved and not living up to its promise.

"What is the purpose of the United Nations?" Trump asked. "It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it's not even coming close to living up to that potential. For the most part, at least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly-worded letter and then never follow that letter up. It's empty words and empty words don't solve war."

Trump threatens Russia sanctions, but says Europe must do more

Trump said the United States is prepared to enforce "very strong rounds of powerful tariffs" on Russia should Moscow not be ready to make a peace deal.

But he said other countries need to pull back on buying Russian oil "otherwise we're all wasting a lot of time."

"Europe has to step it up. They can't be doing what they're doing. They're buying oil and gas from Russia while they're fighting Russia. It's embarrassing to them," Trump said.

Trump bashes world leaders on migration

Trump said other countries should be modeling the U.S. on the issue of immigration.

"Not only is the U.N. not solving the problems it should, too often it's actually creating new problems for us to solve," Trump said. "The best example is the No. 1 political issue of our time, the crisis of uncontrolled migration. It's uncontrolled. Your countries are being ruined."

To leaders gathered in the conference hall, Trump said: "Your countries are going to hell."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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