*By Carlo Versano*
One year after his "fire and fury" speech that threatened North Korea and its "little rocket man" leader with annihilation, President Trump addressed the annual United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, expanding on his "America First" motto and replacing North Korea with Iran as the main antagonist.
Trump said that the sanctions the U.S. imposed on Iran after pulling out of the nuclear deal have hurt the "corrupt dictatorship," while the president substantially softened his tone on North Korea ー which, according to Trump, has taken a "number of encouraging measures" since he last appeared in front of the body.
While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has not launched a missile test since his June meeting with Trump in Singapore, there is little evidence that the regime has made meaningful steps toward denuclearization.
Trump also referenced OPEC, saying the cartel is "ripping off the rest of the world" by keeping oil prices high. The group has been reluctant to increase supply, and along with impending U.S. sanctions against Iranian crude exports, oil has risen to a four-year high.
But perhaps the most notable thread of Trump's UN address was an apparent change to the country's foreign aid policy.
"Moving forward, we're only going to give foreign aid to those who respect us and, frankly, are our friends," Trump said. That would be a major difference in how America has thought of aid in the post-war era, when it has been seen as a measure of altruism and an extension of diplomacy ー not something transactional.
For an administration that often views foreign policy in stark terms, Trump's speech stayed largely on message.
He rejected globalism and praised sovereignty, viewing the ideologies as mutually exclusive. At one point, he praised his White House for accomplishing "more than almost any administration in the history of our country," a statement that drew chuckles from the assembled world leaders.
"I didn't expect that reaction," Trump said, veering momentarily off script.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
