Your countries are going to hell: Trump lashes out at leaders in UN General Assembly
By The Guardian, September 23, 2025In an address that stretched nearly an hour more than three times the allotted time, Donald Trump delivered a fiery speech at the United Nations General Assembly, issuing a broad indictment of European immigration policies, clean energy initiatives, and the effectiveness of the UN itself.
Speaking without a functioning teleprompter, Trump frequently went off-script, aiming at both international leaders and domestic political adversaries.
Trump opened by criticising the UN for failing to assist him in what he described as his efforts to “end seven wars” since returning to office. While this claim is not entirely accurate, he used it to underscore his frustration with the organisation, claiming:
“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. The only thing that solves war and wars is action.”
The president also placed blame on countries for continuing to buy Russian oil, singling out India, China, and several NATO allies.
“They’re funding the war against themselves,” he said, warning that the US is prepared to impose “a very strong round of powerful tariffs” if Russia does not agree to a ceasefire, and demanding that Europe “adopt the exact same measures.”
Much of Trump’s speech centred on immigration, which he linked to what he called the “globalist migration agenda.” Praising his own administration’s efforts in the US to “swiftly shut down uncontrolled migration,” he issued a stark warning to Europe: countries “are going to hell” if they continue open-border policies.
He further connected immigration with clean energy, calling several renewable energy projects a “green scam” and predicting that nations investing in them face failure.
Regarding the conflict in Gaza, Trump largely avoided the humanitarian crisis, focusing instead on the release of Israeli hostages.
“We want all 20 back. We don’t want two and four,” he said, criticising Hamas for rejecting what he described as reasonable peace offers. He continued to oppose the growing number of countries recognising a Palestinian state, arguing that doing so would “reward these horrible atrocities, including October 7.”