US President Donald Trump used his UN debut on Monday to prod the international organization to cut its bloated bureaucracy and fulfill its mission, but he pledged US support for the world body he had excoriated as a candidate, and his criticisms were more restrained than in years past.
“In recent years, the United Nations has not reached its full potential due to bureaucracy and mismanagement,” Trump said. “We are not seeing the results in line with this investment.”
The president urged the UN to focus “more on people and less on bureaucracy” and to change “business as usual and not be beholden to ways of the past which were not working.”
He also suggested the US was paying more than its fair share to keep the world body operational.
The short remarks at a forum on UN reforms were a precursor to yesterday’s main event, when Trump was scheduled to address the UN General Assembly for the first time, a speech nervously awaited by world leaders concerned about what his “America first” vision means for the future of the world body.
Trump riffed on his campaign slogan when asked to preview his central message to the General Assembly, saying: “I think the main message is `make the United Nations great’ — not ‘again.’ ‘Make the United Nations great.’”
“Such tremendous potential, and I think we’ll be able to do this,” he added.
However, he pledged that the US would be “be partners in your work” to make the organization a more effective force for peace across the globe.
He praised the UN’s early steps toward reform and made no threats to withdraw US support. The president’s more measured tone stood in sharp contrast to the approach he took at NATO’s Brussels headquarters in May, when he scolded members for not paying enough and refused to explicitly back its mutual defense pact.
While running for office, Trump had labeled the UN as weak and incompetent, and not a friend of either the US or Israel.
However, he has softened his message since taking office, telling ambassadors at a White House meeting in April that the UN has “tremendous potential.”
Trump more recently has praised a pair of unanimous UN Security Council votes to tighten sanctions on North Korea.
Trump on Monday praised UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said he shared his vision for a less-wasteful UN that will “live up to its full potential.”
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