AP, Washington :
President Donald Trump said Friday that the United Nations has “tremendous potential” but has been underutilized in recent years.
Trump praised U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has led the 193-member world organization since January, during an Oval Office meeting. It was their first extended meeting.
The White House said the two leaders “discussed issues of mutual interest,” including North Korea, Syria, Iraq and Myamar.
The president used his U.N. debut in September to push the U.N. to cut its bureaucracy and fulfill its mission.
“The United Nations has tremendous potential. It hasn’t been used over the years nearly as it should be,” Trump said at the White House, where he was joined by his U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, and national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
The U.N., Trump said, has the “power to bring people together, like nothing else,” and he predicted that “things are going to happen with the United Nations that we haven’t seen before.”
Guterres and Trump met briefly at the White House in April and also held talks on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting last month.
Guterres said he was a “true believer that we live in a messy world, but we need a strong, reformed and modernized U.N. We need a strong United States engaged, based on its traditional values – freedom, democracy, human rights.”
Trump offered praise for the U.N. leader, saying “You need talent, and he’s got the talent.” And the president told reporters: “We’ll see what happens. I’ll report back to you in about seven years.”
Trump said in September that the U.N. hadn’t reached its potential because of “bureaucracy and mismanagement,” and called upon the U.N. to change “business as usual and not be beholden to ways of the past which were not working.”
He also suggested the U.S. was paying more than its fair share for U.N. operations.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is expected to pressure China’s president when they meet next month in Beijing to do more to rein in North Korea out of a belief that Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power should give him more authority to do so.
Trump leaves Nov. 3 on a trip that will take him to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. It will be his first tour of Asia since taking power in January and one with a major priority: Preventing the standoff with North Korea from spiraling out of control.
Xi is immersed in a Communist Party Congress expected to culminate in him consolidating his control and potentially retaining power beyond 2022, when the next congress takes place.
Trump believes that Xi should have even more leverage to work on the North Korea problem.
“The president’s view is you have even less of an excuse now,” said one official. “He’s not going to step lightly.”
Trump wants to gain some serious cooperation from China to persuade Pyongyang to either change its mind or help deprive it of so much resources that it has no choice but to alter its behavior, the official said.
Trump has heaped praise on Xi in recent weeks in hopes of gaining Chinese cooperation and has held back from major punitive trade measures.
In an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump said he wants to “keep things very, very low key” with Xi until the Chinese leader emerges from the party congress.
President Donald Trump said Friday that the United Nations has “tremendous potential” but has been underutilized in recent years.
Trump praised U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has led the 193-member world organization since January, during an Oval Office meeting. It was their first extended meeting.
The White House said the two leaders “discussed issues of mutual interest,” including North Korea, Syria, Iraq and Myamar.
The president used his U.N. debut in September to push the U.N. to cut its bureaucracy and fulfill its mission.
“The United Nations has tremendous potential. It hasn’t been used over the years nearly as it should be,” Trump said at the White House, where he was joined by his U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, and national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
The U.N., Trump said, has the “power to bring people together, like nothing else,” and he predicted that “things are going to happen with the United Nations that we haven’t seen before.”
Guterres and Trump met briefly at the White House in April and also held talks on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly’s annual ministerial meeting last month.
Guterres said he was a “true believer that we live in a messy world, but we need a strong, reformed and modernized U.N. We need a strong United States engaged, based on its traditional values – freedom, democracy, human rights.”
Trump offered praise for the U.N. leader, saying “You need talent, and he’s got the talent.” And the president told reporters: “We’ll see what happens. I’ll report back to you in about seven years.”
Trump said in September that the U.N. hadn’t reached its potential because of “bureaucracy and mismanagement,” and called upon the U.N. to change “business as usual and not be beholden to ways of the past which were not working.”
He also suggested the U.S. was paying more than its fair share for U.N. operations.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is expected to pressure China’s president when they meet next month in Beijing to do more to rein in North Korea out of a belief that Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power should give him more authority to do so.
Trump leaves Nov. 3 on a trip that will take him to Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam and the Philippines. It will be his first tour of Asia since taking power in January and one with a major priority: Preventing the standoff with North Korea from spiraling out of control.
Xi is immersed in a Communist Party Congress expected to culminate in him consolidating his control and potentially retaining power beyond 2022, when the next congress takes place.
Trump believes that Xi should have even more leverage to work on the North Korea problem.
“The president’s view is you have even less of an excuse now,” said one official. “He’s not going to step lightly.”
Trump wants to gain some serious cooperation from China to persuade Pyongyang to either change its mind or help deprive it of so much resources that it has no choice but to alter its behavior, the official said.
Trump has heaped praise on Xi in recent weeks in hopes of gaining Chinese cooperation and has held back from major punitive trade measures.
In an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump said he wants to “keep things very, very low key” with Xi until the Chinese leader emerges from the party congress.
