Trump to tout confrontation of ‘complex problems’ in address at UN

President Donald Trump will underscore how he has “confronted complex problems head-on around the world” during his Tuesday address to the United Nations’s General Assembly, U.N. Ambassador Michael Waltz said.During a call with reporters on Friday, Waltz said the president has spent his first two years back in the White House addressing conflicts that had been “neglected” by previous administrations and that his record is buoyed by the peace deals he’s reached — even as other wars remain at a stalemate.Trump’s address to the United Nations comes amid the Russia–Ukraine war and the conflict with Iran. “He will touch on the importance of Iran never having a nuclear weapon,” Waltz added, as well as more fruitful diplomatic achievements, including the 20-point peace plan between Israel and Gaza leaders. Sideline meetings are expected with British, Japanese, and Gulf State allies and will supplement a sit-down with interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez.Trump’s U.N. address will be followed by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the White House, which will include a state dinner and a trip to the National Archives.A senior administration official told reporters the agenda for Trump’s meeting with Xi would cover everything from fentanyl to rare earth export controls.Another senior administration official said guests to the state dinner, which prompted Trump to push for the completion of his helipad, will include Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Apple’s Tim Cook.During his return to the United Nations last year, Trump used a malfunctioning escalator and teleprompter he was met with as a metaphor for decline at the U.N.“Six years have passed since I last stood in this grand hall and addressed a world that was prosperous and at peace in my first term,” Trump told the U.N.’s General Assembly last September.“Since that day, the guns of war have shattered the peace I forged on two continents,” he said, referencing the Russia–Ukraine and Israel–Hamas conflicts.To that end, Trump asked the gathered world leaders what the purpose of the U.N. is, contending that it “has such tremendous potential” but that “it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”REPUBLICANS PUMP MILLIONS INTO STATES TRUMP WON THREE TIMES“For the most part, at least for now, all they seem to do is write a strongly worded letter and never follow that letter up,” he said. “It’s empty words, and empty words do not solve war. The only thing that solves war is action.”A senior administration official told reporters Friday that Trump continues to believe U.N. reforms are still required, but that the president also believes in the importance of diplomacy.