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US President Donald Trump took the stage at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday, delivering a sweeping speech that touched on foreign policy, immigration, climate change and more. He attacked friends and rivals alike, while making controversial \u2013 and often factually inaccurate \u2013 assertions.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at some of his key comments and arguments \u2013 and how they hold up against the facts.<\/p>\n
Trump kicked off his speech with a lighthearted comment about a non-functional teleprompter, noting that he did not mind that it was not working.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t mind making this speech without a teleprompter, because the teleprompter is not working,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel very happy to be up here with you, nevertheless. And that way, you speak more from the heart. I can only say that whoever\u2019s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
But a UN official said the teleprompter was being operated by the White House.<\/p>\n
And after Trump finished speaking, UNGA President Annalena Baerbock said: \u201cAs we are receiving queries, I would like to assure you that, don\u2019t worry, the UN teleprompters are working perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baerbock was Germany\u2019s foreign minister until earlier this year.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump speaks at the UNGA [Timonthy A. Clary\/AFP]<\/p>\n
Trump said that nations that were more welcoming of immigrants than the US under him were \u201cdestroying\u201d their countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re being destroyed. Europe is in serious trouble. They\u2019ve been invaded by a force of illegal aliens like nobody\u2019s ever seen before. Illegal aliens are pouring into Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump then referred to his administration\u2019s policies towards migrants and asylum seekers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to end it now \u2013 I can tell you. I\u2019m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce we started detaining and deporting everyone who crossed the border, and removing illegal aliens from the United States, they simply stopped coming,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier in his speech, he also said that in \u201cfour months in a row, the number of illegal aliens admitted and entering our country has been zero\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s claims about undocumented migrants \u2013 some of whom cross the border seeking asylum \u2013 whom he calls \u201cillegal\u201d, are an exaggeration.<\/p>\n
According to US Customs and Border Protection, nationwide apprehensions at border crossings dropped from about 60,600 in August 2024 to roughly 8,200 in July 2025. This is one of the lowest monthly totals in decades, but it is not close to zero.<\/p>\n
Trump criticised Washington\u2019s NATO allies for continuing to buy Russian energy, while urging Europe to step up pressure on Moscow over its war on Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cChina and India are the primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil, but inexcusably, even NATO countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
As Al Jazeera reported in August, after the US doubled its 25 percent tariffs on Indian imports to 50 percent as punishment for New Delhi\u2019s continued oil purchases from Russia, the European Union actually trades even more with Moscow.<\/p>\n
The EU\u2019s trade with Russia now \u2013 at 67.5 billion euros ($77.9bn) in 2024 \u2013 is about a quarter of what it was in 2021, before Russia\u2019s full-fledged war on Ukraine began (257.5 billion euros ($297.4bn). But this is still more than India\u2019s total trade with Russia in 2024-25, which was worth $68.7bn.<\/p>\n
And Europe actually increased its imports of Russian LNG by 9 percent in 2024, compared with the year before.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the US also imports a range of chemicals from Russia. Total Russia-US trade in 2024 stood at $5.2bn, according to the US Trade Representative\u2019s Office, though the numbers are down significantly from 2021, when their trade in goods stood at $36bn.<\/p>\n
Trump warned that the US is prepared to impose a new round of tariffs on Russia if no agreement is reached to end the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor those tariffs to be effective, European nations \u2013 all of you are gathered here right now \u2013 would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, you\u2019re much closer to this. See, we have an ocean in between. You\u2019re right there, and Europe has to step it up. They can\u2019t be doing what they\u2019re doing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Trump also returned to his longstanding criticism of climate science.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look back years ago, in the 1920s and the 1930s, they said global cooling will kill the world,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen they said global warming will kill the world, but then it started getting cooler. So now, they just call it climate change because that way, they can\u2019t miss. Climate change \u2013 because if it goes higher or lower, whatever the hell happens, there\u2019s climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion. Climate change, no matter what happens, you\u2019re involved in that. No more global warming, no more global cooling. All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump at UNGA: Climate change\u2014 it’s the greatest con-job ever perpetrated on the world. pic.twitter.com\/0vOknp9M2O<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mintel World (@mintelworld) September 23, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail, and I\u2019m really good at predicting things,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n His remarks came as the UN urged countries to present their updated decarbonisation targets at the UNGA, aiming to revive momentum in the global fight against climate change.<\/p>\n Scientific evidence \u2013 including that touted by parts of Trump\u2019s own administration \u2013 shows that global warming, along with its impacts on rising temperatures, shifting oceans, extreme weather and wildfires, is unfolding faster than previously expected.<\/p>\n Trump delivers remarks to the UNGA, September 23, 2025 [Timothy A Clary\/AFP]<\/p>\n Trump cast himself as a global peacemaker.<\/p>\n \u201cI ended seven wars. And in all cases, they were raging, with countless thousands of people being killed. This includes Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda \u2013 a vicious, violent war that<\/em> was \u2013 Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s never been anything like that. Very honoured to have done it. It\u2019s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them\u2026 All I got from the United Nations was an escalator that, on the way up, stopped right in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n Though Trump has taken credit for helping to pause the conflicts he listed, some countries have disputed his claims. India, in particular, has publicly, and repeatedly, insisted that its May clash with Pakistan ended through bilateral conversations between the militaries of the South Asian neighbours, not any US mediation.<\/p>\n Still, Trump\u2019s supporters have dubbed him the \u201cpeace president\u201d and argued that he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n The UN has not been there for us as a country. For months, @POTUS<\/a> brokered peace in major world conflicts without any help being offered to him.<\/p>\n The UN has tremendous potential, but it is not living up to it. Strongly worded letters are just empty words. Actions end wars. pic.twitter.com\/fhvLmJceQK<\/a><\/p>\n\u2018I ended seven wars\u2019<\/h2>\n