10AM Hour: President Trump Addresses the U.N. General Assembly 9/22/26

0:00This episode is brought to you by Schwab market update an original podcast from Charles Schwab Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab, provides an information-packed daily market preview on stock updates, U.S. and global economic news, monetary policy decisions, and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash marketupdatepodcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts. If you're a small business, the right hire can be make or break. Indeed Sponsored Jobs gets you quality candidates when you need them most.

0:37Join the 3.3 million employers worldwide that use Indeed to connect with quality talent that fits their needs. Listeners of this show will get a$75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed-sponsored jobs. Good Tuesday morning. Welcome to Spock on the Street. I'm Sarah Eisen with Carl Cantania and David Faber. We are live, as always, from Post 9 of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks mostly hire as oil and yields both pull back following Monday's big market rally.

1:12The focus now turns to New York, where President Trump is set to speak any moment to the United Nations. We'll bring you those remarks when they begin. Plus, met in the spotlight again this morning after the company added nearly$200 billion in market cap just yesterday, boosted by optimism around its AI assistant. Much more on that move straight ahead. But with President Trump here in New York and all the foreign leaders here, the anticipation of the meeting with President Xi Jinping on Thursday, I decided to do a look at U.S. versus China economically. We've done this before, but really wanted to update where the two biggest economies in the world stand ahead of this all-important leadership meeting.

1:52When you look at GDP growth alone, clearly China is the winner just because of the size of its growth. 4.6 percent is the IMF projection for this year versus 2.3. Although when you scrutinize the why and how the growth, in many ways the U.S. looks a lot healthier. Why do I say that? Because it's driven by the consumer. consumer spending. And here's a good way to look at it. Just in August, if you look at retail sales for the U.S. versus China, U.S. retail sales in August were 6 percent. China's retail sales in August were 0.4 percent. And that gives you a gap. China's growth is driven by exports.

2:30Their exports are booming. They're growing double digits. They produce a lot in their factories and they sell it around the world. But this is why, you know, a lot of people, including policymakers and the likes of Larry Fink of BlackRock and others have said it's so imbalanced because it's really the U.S. consumer that's driving the growth and China's consumer economy isn't there. Big gap in inflation, too. So the U.S. is struggling with high inflation, right? We're at 3.4 percent if you look at CPI in the U.S. in August. China's been struggling on the other side with deflation. And as you can see, it's positive, but just barely because of some of the weakness.

3:10You know, they're still struggling on property investment and domestic investment. So, you know, there's kind of a good snapshot. And historically, Sarah, the Chinese, I mean, there are arguments to be made about the lack of a social safety net here in the United States. Fair. OK. But over there, really not one. And so the Chinese are very much accustomed to a far higher savings rate, or at least that's certainly always been the case. I haven't seen that we have the number in here, but then we have in this country because they don't have a significant social safety net. Plus the current government there has seemingly been unwilling to provide the stimulus that others would say they need to, to try to get the consumer moving and fight off what is that fear of deflation, as you say.

3:51The policy support has been for the export sector. For exports. And that's really what, that's their model. And they have not supported the domestic economy, like a lot of economists have called on them. Just one other sort of striking stat, which is youth unemployment. Remember China pulled that because the numbers were so bad and then they released them, you know, taking out students who basically shouldn't be working. It's still ugly. 19, almost 20 percent youth unemployment in China. It's high for the U.S. as well. But look at the gap there. I think it's it's pretty, pretty notable. I will say one place that they are winning and where they have an edge is on AI adoption.

4:30Definitely not AI investment, but AI adoption. According to some research we pulled from Morgan Stanley, if you look at the adoption rates on U.S. versus China, much higher both on personal use and work-related use. Again, this is as of June. So they don't seem to have quite the negativity either. They have a different approach, I think, is fair to say, in terms of how they view the technology and, again, how it's going to be used within their system, which is obviously quite different than our own. They are behind us when it comes to the actual advancement of the technology. You can debate how much, maybe not that much, but they are using it somewhat differently.

5:13They have strong distribution, though. They have use cases. They have robots. They do. I do wonder when it comes to robots as well and the employment, obviously it's been such an important component overall policy there for so long, and yet they are so aggressive in terms of deploying robots. They are the world leader when it comes to robotics, without a doubt. Tesla, okay, good, optimist, but otherwise, I mean, without a doubt. And so how does that affect the employment picture there when they continually are replacing potentially workers in so many of their factories with robots? Yeah, I mean, that's an issue.

5:47I'm not sure that it's solved and anybody really knows, but clearly they've found a lot of use cases. And it's across multiple AI tools. It's not across like a single AI native app or anything like that when it comes to the rollout in China. I'll be really interested to see whether President Xi and President Trump can come to any kind of agreement on, you know, what safety standards look like as we enter AI. I don't think it's in anybody's interest to have a civilization-wide threat here when it comes to AI, both on jobs and on, you know, serious risk. Yeah. Well, there are some headlines circulating that Xi is going to press Trump on Taiwan, that you might see a generational moment here to convince the U.S.

6:26that Taiwan resistance is futile is what's leading some of the headlines this morning. As we continue to await the president, let's get a check on the broader markets as stocks try to build on the rally from yesterday. Let's bring in Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic advisor at Allianz. Mohamed, great to see you. Hope you won't mind if we have to duck to the president in a hurry here. But in the meantime, more hawkish commentary from Collins today, Moussalam, Goolsbee yesterday. But your general point is that a lot of these things are not in central banks' control right now. Yes. I mean, the main problem is the supply side and in particularly energy.

7:04And this inherent focus on demand, I understand it. You know, if the central banks become the only game in town yet again, they can only act through the demand side. But that's not the right solution. I think the right solution is to do something on the supply side. And if you can't do that, address the demand side through the budget. And that helps, as you know, Carl, in also relieving some of the pressure on longer term yields. So we risk falling into this trap yet again of pushing the central bank center stage and saying you're the only game in town. Now deal with the problem we have. Right.

7:41Would you expect them to start jawboning Congress to instill some fiscal discipline? No, I think Kevin Walsh has been absolutely right in saying he's going to stay in his lane. So they're not going to do that. In Europe, they do. Christine Lagarde says it all the time. The U.S. is different, so I don't expect they're going to say it, but I would hope that more Wall Street analysts would focus not just on the Fed, but focus on the whole tools of instruments that we have and ask the question, what is the first bet solution? Not just going back to, oh, it's the Fed, it's the Fed. So do you think there's going to be, I mean, I think there's this afternoon a big auction of two-year debt.

8:24We know these auctions are coming and they're big and there's competition and there's the fiscal concerns. Do you expect there to be trouble with yields ahead? You think we haven't seen the worst of it? I think yields will stay elevated. Look, oil, both WTI and Brent, are below 100. And yet, the 10-year is at 495. We haven't had the sort of relief on the 10-year that you would expect. The 30-year hasn't moved much. The curves have flattened. Why? Because the two-year has gone up. So what the yield complex is telling you is that there is an issue with demand. And it's particularly making room for the hyperscaler bond issues.

9:10Look, we should be very proud that we have capital markets that are willing to fund such incredible innovations. But we need to make room for them. And that takes us back again to the fiscal side. Goolsby said something interesting yesterday, Mohamed, and that was it might be time to quit looking through supply disruptions. because at some point it just gets either there's too much endurance involved or it's too dramatic. I wonder if you think that marks a moment or not. I don't think they want to repeat the mistake of 2021 where they called inflation transitory and so would go all the way up to 9 % at the CPI level.

9:50This is different. My worry is that they will be forced to act over and over again by the markets. Already we're pricing in three more hikes till the middle of next year. My worry is that we're going to end up in what Kevin Walsh rightly called the hole of mirror phenomenon, where the market forces the Fed. I think the Fed had no choice, for example, but to hike last week because the expectation was 92 percent. I'm hoping we'll get a relief from the supply side. And I'm hoping that fiscal can contribute to the solution or at least stop making the problem worse. So ultimately, with stocks, do you see headwinds for stocks as yields stay elevated or the AI trade is just too powerful?

10:39I think earnings are just too powerful for now. Earnings, I think them as the shield. They've been able to deflect virtually everything from the stock market. As you've pointed out, we're near highs. So it's all about earnings growth. And if that remains robust, the stock market will continue to impress everybody. Yeah, I guess question on whether earnings can remain robust in this environment where, you know, oil prices are still elevated, yields are still elevated. Obviously, there's always uncertainty, but sentiment shifts a lot around AI, good or bad. Yeah, so the first thing I look at every morning is the price of diesel.

11:21Who would have thought a year ago that I would focus on that? And that's because one of the things that have been really helping us are the buffers. The consumer has had some buffers, especially on the debt side. They've been able to increase the indebtedness. Not great for the low-income households, but that's what's maintained consumption. And, of course, we've been running down oil inventories. So critical, keep an eye on the buffers that have helped us navigate this, especially with this second engine of growth, which is consumption. The first engine, AI, I have no doubt is going to continue.

11:57The second engine, let's keep an eye on it. Yeah, we mentioned some of these calls for diesel export bans a few moments ago. And we do expect the president to lean on Russia to settle the war with Ukraine, which is obviously a huge choke point in diesel exports all around the world. So, Mohammed, talk very soon. Busy day. Thanks so much. As always, Mohammed Al-Aryan. Here's our roadmap for you for the rest of the hour. Coming up, we'll bring you live coverage of President Trump's address to the United Nations. Expect it to begin now any moment. Plus, we're going to talk with Bank of America's head of commodities, that about the president's message on the Middle East and, of course, the impact on oil.

12:33And, of course, the latest on Meta after that company added nearly$200 billion in market cap in yesterday's AI-driven rally. Squawk on the streets back in just a minute. Legacy Credit Scores only look at a brief snapshot in time, and that limited view often leaves millions of qualified credit seekers out of the picture. Vantage Score is changing that by modernizing credit scoring. Vantage Score uses 400 % more credit and alternative data to create a fuller picture of financial behavior, including trended credit data, rental payments, and timely utility payments. Vantage Score safely broadens access to the credit economy and brings 5 million mortgage-ready borrowers into the market.

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13:52Trial eligibility varies, terms apply, cancel anytime. This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab, provides an information-packed daily market preview on stock updates, U.S. and global economic news, monetary policy decisions, and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash marketupdatepodcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back as we await President Trump's remarks at the U.N.

14:31General Assembly and his summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. Let's get the geopolitical setup with Stefan Selig, former Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade under the Obama administration and managing partner of Bridge Park Advisors. Welcome back. Great to have you. So, first of all, what do you expect to hear? What will you be listening for in President Trump's speech this morning? You know, look, the UNGA speech, I think, will be obviously broader than what he is going to talk about with President Xi, which I think is actually the big meeting. I think the UNGA speech will deal with what's going on with prices and is a little bit going to be addressed to a domestic audience going into the midterms.

15:10The Xi meeting are going to cover what I think you guys have been talking about all morning, which are the big topics of what I'm calling the four Ts, technology, trade, Taiwan, and Tehran. And all of those are going to be covered with Xi and will be important topics. I just don't think, Sarah, that there's going to be a major breakthrough. I was going to say, is there any common ground on any of those topics? You know, frankly, I don't see it. On tech, which is the whole AI conversation, we don't frankly have domestic agreement about how we want to proceed, let alone how we're going to proceed with China.

15:45With Iran, we're going to obviously ask for his help to some degree to help open up the straits to lower oil prices, et cetera. I don't think it's really in his interest or in China's interest to really be helpful to us. And it's not in their interest, not because they don't want Tehran to have a nuke. They don't. But they also want us to be mired in a different part of the world and expending military capital, financial capital, intellectual capital in something that really has nothing to do with them. And as Napoleon said, it's awfully helpful to have your enemies not be distracted when they're making mistakes.

16:24And that's what's going to happen there. On trade, as you kind of talked about, these are systemic issues to the Chinese economy. And just because we try and encourage them to build a consumer-facing economy, they are not prepared to make the hard decisions domestically to go do that. And Trump is not going to whip them into doing that. And on the other side of trade, they realize they have an unbelievable cudgel over our head with rare earths, critical minerals. And they're not going to give up on that as a way to counterbalance tariffs and other things that we may try and put in place to exert leverage.

17:03So I'm not optimistic. There are two key areas that we are trying to, over time, outrun those problems. One is creating domestic supplies of those minerals you just discussed. and the other is creating enough fabs in this country to replace TSMC, should that ever come to pass, that Taiwan is no longer an independent country or an independent government from China. Well, on the critical minerals, David, years and years and years away for us to be able to both mine them and process them. So those are both things that allow them to be actually used in the supply chain. And in terms of what, you know, TMC is doing in Arizona, is not just building the facility.

17:43I mean, it is an unbelievably unique and idiosyncratic ecosystem that exists in Taiwan that doesn't include just the factories, but includes the supply chain and a whole host of engineers that we can't miraculously make appear domestically. No, it takes time. Obviously, Intel is also part of that effort as well. On trade, there's so many interesting elements. I mean, BYD is talking about building plants in Europe. Canada is talking about being an associate member of the EU. We're buying potash from Belarus instead of Canada. Which of these do you think are more real, more long-lasting? You know, I think, you know, the fact is, is that we live in a world of global supply chains.

18:26And we're not going to really be able to put that genie back in the bottle anytime soon without severe economic contraction. And so I think getting to what the Chinese and the United States called after the last meeting in May, continued strategic stability, is actually what we're playing for here. And I think that's what's going to come out of the meeting on Thursday. What about this proposal from Besson on AI notifications around national security? Having a transparent relationship there. We are going to set up a strategic dialogue for sure. That's what governments do. The question is, what comes from that?

19:04And I don't think we can be critical of the Trump administration at all. If you look at what has actually, how we've progressed with our relationship with China over the last number of administrations, including the one that I was a part of, it's been remarkably little. So we talk a lot. We need to make sure they understand what our issues are. We need to understand what their issues are. Again, so we don't have any major flare-ups. But, you know, there's just too much daylight between what is important to them and what they're trying to accomplish and what's important to us. Do you agree with Besson's analog that it's like water polo, where it looks like you're just playing a regular game, but underneath the surface you're kicking the heck out of each other?

19:42Well, this is one of the problems with the president who likes to announce these deals, which is it's easy to announce something. The question is, what's the follow-through? And the Chinese have been awfully bad at sticking to their commitments. So the last time, I think it was$14,$17 billion, something like that, of agricultural purchases. If you look at how much agriculture they've been buying for the U.S. outside of soybeans over the last six months, it's actually at multi-year lows. So you come out of these meetings and there's planes and there's trains and there's automobiles. And, in fact, there's not much there there to follow up.

20:16The U.N., I'm just looking at a headline, calls for an AI pact to prevent the rise of killer robots. I wonder if we can get any kind of international agreement on safety standards. I think the first thing we have to do is have domestic agreement, one. And I don't think that agreement is coming out of the U.N. And so, you know, everybody's here. There's a lot of traffic in New York, as we all know, getting down here today. But the U.N. has become remarkably less relevant over the course of the last generation. I don't see that changing anytime soon. And it's both structurally irrelevant because of the nature of the Security Council, right?

20:53I mean, tell me, Sarah, one topic that you're going to get. The United States, China. That's what I was saying. They do nothing. Russia, France, and Great Britain to agree on. Not going to happen, one. Two is they lost a tremendous amount of credibility with what happened in the Gaza conflict with UNRWA in terms of their— Well, they picked the wrong side. Well, and they had no business getting involved, and they didn't come clean with what happened and all those sorts of things. So I think what we're seeing is a continued irrelevancy of the United Nations. And really, the relevance is what the world leaders who happen to be congregating in New York this week are going to be able to do on the sidelines of the actual U.N.

21:34And the administration, and Trump is not right, wrong, the U.N. has to be restructured. It has to do fewer things and do them better. And this, when I started my career in the 80s in the M &A business, that is exactly what happened in the U.S. economy writ large. and we became a far more efficient, productive economy. And that's what has to happen to the U.N. Stephen, stay there. We want to bring in Megan Casella into the conversation as well, of course, as we await President Trump's speech at the U.N. And Megan, of course, as Stephen points out, Stephen points out the summit with Xi coming up as well.

22:12And that's really perhaps the more important geopolitical event of the week. I think that's right. Everyone I've spoken with has really been much more focused on that Xi meeting and what might come out of that, what that will say about the future of U.S.-China relations. That's the big event happening there. We are, though, closely going to be watching this U.N. speech from the president, just a little inside baseball here. He was set to be the fourth speech of the morning, and things kicked off at 9 a.m. Originally, he was expected to start right around 10 a.m. Obviously, though, we're behind schedule.

22:39He's the next up whenever that might start. We expect that speech to mostly hit on the same themes we've heard from the president in these sorts of multilateral global settings, talking about using American power to reshape the world to America's benefit. Last year, just as something of a preview or something to look for to see what we might see again, he spoke for more than an hour last year. There was an issue with his teleprompter going down, forcing him to improvise and ad lib, and maybe that led the speech to being longer than it was planned for. We've seen some excerpts so far this morning really hitting on those same themes.

23:09I'm not expecting big policy pronouncements from the president, but what could be more interesting today is all of these bilateral meetings that the president has later with the U.K., with Japan. And I'm really watching one with the Gulf countries as well, with so much going on in the Middle East, a lot that could come out of that meeting. Guys, one last thing I'll say is that there's questions right now about whether any U.S. officials, any U.S. delegation might meet with Iranian officials who are in New York as well for this General Assembly. There's something up in the air. There seem to be discussions going on about whether they can work anything out.

23:41Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying this morning he would be open to it. So we'll see if that happens later today as well. On AI, you know, Stefan was just saying we have to figure out our domestic policy before we have any kind of international cohesion around this topic or something between the U.S. and China. I am curious what you hear President Trump would talk to China about, because the president himself has likened some of the concerns around AI to climate change fears and even called it a hoax. So it's not clear to me what he would be worried about and what he would be asking about. Yes, that's so true that what can we settle with China, a country that's almost an adversary in many cases and definitely the top competitor on AI, what could we agree on with them when we can't even agree domestically on what needs to happen next on AI?

24:27We got a little bit of a clue from the Treasury Secretary Bessing yesterday after those meetings at the working level with the Chinese over the weekend. He described this AI safety dialogue that they're trying to set up as something like an incident hotline, that if something did go wrong, the two countries would at least be communicating with each other about what that was. So it wouldn't necessarily even be putting guardrails in place. That's a word we have heard the president use at some different points in time, not even going so far, of course, as regulation either, but at least communication.

24:58And Besant spoke about more transparency and less opaqueness between these two superpowers on AI would be a good thing. So we'll see if we get more meat on the bones of that when the two leaders sit down on Thursday. But, you know, from officials that I've spoken with and analysts that I've spoken with as well, watching that meeting with President Xi, the Chinese seem to be interested in AI only as much as it benefits them. They're not very interested in regulation either, the same way that the president seems to be suggesting the U.S.'s posture is at this point. So not expecting too much, but maybe at least some sort of a dialogue.

25:29I'm curious, Stefan, what you think about the political dynamic of AI in this country, you know, whether I mean, because there is bipartisan partisan resistance to things like data center builds. We talked about that this morning. And nobody seems to know exactly how to regulate it. There are some proposals out there. But which party do you think has the upper hand here, if at all? You know, I think I'm not sure that I could describe to you actually a cogent, coherent policy that is from either party, frankly, or agreement within either party. You know, I think for sure, at least in my opinion, this is something that presents a real potential danger and is going to need some sort of certainly domestic regulation, if not some sort of international regulation generally.

26:16And I don't think this should be that big of a discussion. We regulate, I mean, you guys are regulated, communications is regulated, food and drugs are regulated. And I think this is just, this is a new industry that is going to require regulation, that's going to evolve over time as it's understood better, like every other industry. Yeah, although it does seem to be falling on political lines, this division in terms of regulating it in some way and not, and the effect of altruists are viewed a certain way, as opposed to other parts of, in the key parts of the administration, I think. And I guess stated...

26:57That you would, again, with a political prism, which you would not necessarily have expected initially. But that, I guess, is the question, right? Are these arguments being made for political purposes as opposed to coming to whatever the Solomonic right ideal is of how this industry should be regulated to, A, make sure that it's safe, but, B, drive all the productivity and economic gain that may be embedded in it. Well, but also stay ahead of China. That's a key point, back to what we were originally discussing. But you would agree that to the degree you put sand in the gears of the build-out, that's market negative.

27:29Nobody wants that to happen on their watch. For sure. And, you know, the president to the hoax stuff is most focused on that because his particular lens is very focused on economics. President beginning to speak, making his way to the lectern. Let's listen in.

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28:58much more. YouTube Premium, it's like YouTube got some extra gains. Try YouTube Premium for two months free at youtube.com slash premium. Trial eligibility varies, terms apply, cancel anytime. This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab, provides an information-packed daily market preview on stock updates, U.S. and global economic news, monetary policy decisions, and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and subscribe at schwab.com slash market update podcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts.

29:38Thank you very much, Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, First Lady of the United States, distinguished delegates, ambassadors and fellow leaders. it's my great honor to welcome the world to America as we celebrate 250 years of glorious freedom and independence. Two and a half centuries after the cause of liberty found its home on this continent, I can report to you with pride that America is back and our country is stronger today than ever before. Our economy is the envy of the world. Our military is the most powerful on earth. Our technology is second to none, and we are leading in virtually everything.

30:31Our energy is fueling the planet. America is rising. Our nation is growing. Our power is expanding. Our country is doing better than ever before, and our future is very, very bright. Since I took office, we have created more than one million new private sector jobs, and more Americans are working today by far than ever before. Last week, it was announced that the poverty rate has reached its lowest level in American history. We lifted 1.5 million Americans out of poverty last year alone, another record. The African-American and Hispanic-American poverty rates are at all-time lows. Real household incomes for Americans have soared to the highest level in history, 87 ,000 on average, surpassing the prior record that I set in my first term.

31:32From day one, my administration has worked to remove every single unnecessary regulation and obstacle to doing business in America. We passed the largest tax cuts in American history, and as a result, more money is being invested in the United States right now than has ever been invested in any nation anywhere in the world. U.S. stock markets have set 80 all-time records, and that's just in the last 12 months. We've secured commitments for$21 trillion in new investments from all over the planet, compared to less than$1 trillion in four years in the previous administration. Two years ago, our country was dead, and now we have the hottest country anywhere in the world.

32:24Before I took office, we had the worst and most dangerous border on earth and now we have the most secure border in American history. Nobody comes in unless they're invited, unless they have permission. In the past 16 months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States and that's done by some very sophisticated people. It's not done by the Trump administration. Zero. As a result, last year we achieved the largest drop in violent crime ever recorded. The murder rate has plummeted to its lowest level in 125 years since the year 1900. I sent our crime busters into Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana, and crime in each place went down over 80 percent, and it'll go down still further.

33:14More importantly, when I arrived on January 20th of last year in Washington, D.C., It was riddled with crime, and now crime is down 87 percent. And we're going for 100. Tourism is, if you take a look, and I guess a lot of you have been there, tourism is thriving, restaurants are bustling, and people are proud of our nation's capital. They're proud like never before. We've invested more money in the United States military in the past 12 months than ever before. and this term it'll be 1.5 trillion dollars. We inherited a dark age of America from the previous administration and we turned it into the golden age of America.

34:01The entire world is being lifted by the wealth, strength, spirit and momentum of a newly energized and a very powerful United States of America. And just as we moved quickly to address problems we inherited at home, we have acted with decisiveness and speed to reshape the world stage and solve problems that have plagued us for far too long. Every leader in this room and your great leaders, many great leaders, I know all of you very well, but they know that given only a short time to make this world better, safer, and more prosperous for our children, for the people on earth, we have to take advantage of it.

34:46As president of the most extraordinary nation in history, I have no interest in leaving dangers to grow for another day. I do not believe in letting problems fester. They only become harder to solve. So while others have talked, I have acted. While others have spoken of peace, I have made peace. While others have ignored threats, I have confronted them. While others have talked of courage, America has shown it. While others have promised strength, I have used it to make America the most powerful country in the world. Working with many nations in this room, we are solving decades of intractable challenges, and we are settling years of unfinished business and we're doing it well, there is no better example of a danger that was allowed to gather strength at the world's peril than the number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

35:50For 51 years, the fanatical Iranian regime has ruled by bloodshed and mass murder, spreading death and carnage and chaos across the entire Middle East and beyond. They were the bully of the Middle East, but they are the bully no more. From the first day I entered the political arena, I've been unwavering. I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Upon taking office last year, I immediately opened negotiations with Iran and offered them full economic cooperation in exchange for ending their nuclear program and support for terror. But they refused. They absolutely refused. That was a big mistake.

36:34Then in Operation Midnight Hammer, the U.S. military obliterated their nuclear program beneath mountains of rubble. And again, I urged Iran to make a deal. And again, they refused. The regime continued building a vast missile and drone stockpile that threatened the security of every American service member in the region and everyone else in the region. They also made a missile that was capable of hitting Europe, and they were very proud of it. I hope the Europeans realize that Iran's goal was to complete their mad dash to a nuclear bomb from behind this conventional ballistic missile shield. if they had succeeded, that wicked regime would have been free to spread terror and death forever, knowing that any attempt to stop them would face an arsenal of nuclear annihilation.

37:30In America, we just marked the 25th anniversary of the worst terror attack in history, September 11th, which killed 3 ,000 people just a few miles from here. It was an unbelievably terrible time. In two weeks, we will mark the third anniversary of the October 7th attack in Israel, where terrorists funded by Iran tortured, mutilated and killed 1 ,200 very innocent civilians, including dozens of Americans and many babies, babies, little, tiny, beautiful babies. Iran's supreme leader celebrated that massacre and called it a service to humanity. The same regime slaughtered over 72 ,000 of its citizens this year.

38:17Recently, 10 ,000 were killed for protesting. Just imagine such a vile regime were ever empowered to carry out large-scale terror attacks from behind a nuclear shield. This was the reality we had to confront, a reality that far too many preferred to ignore. They all ignored it. Many presidents and many others just wanted to ignore it. They were unwilling to do anything about it, but they knew the problem. After giving Iran every chance for a deal, I took action to ensure that neither the United States nor any nation in this whole would ever have to face such a nightmare, such a catastrophic problem.

39:00As a result of Operation Epic Fury, all 159 ships of their navy are now lying at the bottom of the sea. Likewise, their air force is gone. Their radar is gone. Their anti-aircraft equipment is gone. Their missiles and drone manufacturing capacity is almost gone. Their economy is gone. The only thing that isn't gone is inflation, which is destroying their country, and is now well over 300 percent. Yet even after we agreed to a ceasefire for nuclear discussions, Iran promptly violated it with brazen acts of terrorism against civilian ships from other countries. I want to thank the UN Security Council for voting overwhelmingly to pass a resolution condemning Iran's despicable terrorist attacks on commercial shipping.

39:56Thank you very much. That resolution, I'm pleased to say, received more co-sponsors from UN member nations than any Security Council resolution in history. That's something. Now we must be equally united in maintaining pressure. The United States Navy has recently escorted more than one billion barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz, and more oil is flowing than at any point since the start of the war. We're taking 22, 25, 30, 32, and 37 ships out, respectively, every single day, every single night. But I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before?

40:49maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations? But I believe we'll make a deal right after the election because it doesn't make sense for them not to. They're waiting to see how I do in the midterm election. What they don't realize is that I'm not running. I did that already and won in a landslide. We won in a giant landslide. And I'll be here for two and a half years.

41:38The Republican Party is running and I'll be helping them. But I am not running. I gave absolutely no credence and will not give credence to the election when it comes to Iran. It doesn't even enter my mind. The only thing that does is that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. The cowards and traitors. Thank you.

42:08Thank you. The cowards and traitors would love to say the United States is low on munitions, but that's not true. We have more munitions than we could ever possibly even think of using, and we're building them at levels that we have never done before. We are adding to our stockpiles faster than we have ever been able to do before. Top-of-the-line stuff. In addition, in the very near future, massive munition plants will be opening. There are 18 of them being built by the greatest defense companies in the world right now. 18 under construction. Some of them very quickly will be completed. They're almost there.

42:54And that rapid construction will be leading to very rapid deployment of missiles of every type and ammunition of every type. and will be able to supply our allies at a much faster rate than we're doing right now. I call on all nations to join us in enforcing the complete economic isolation of Iran until they stop their attacks on commercial shipping, relinquish their nuclear ambitions, and cease their support of terror. The terrorist regime is behaving badly, not because they are strong and confident, but because they are weak and desperate. If we stand united, we will soon see a world free of the last 51-year menace of Iranian terror, and oil prices will come plummeting down even lower than they were at the start of the conflict.

43:51And they were very low. In the United States, they were really low. With courage and resolve, anything is possible. Big changes can happen and happen fast. One year ago, when I addressed the great leaders this hall, the war in Gaza was still raging brutally. The hostages were still deep in Hamas tunnels, and there was no end in sight. It was never going to be resolved. But here on the sidelines of the General Assembly, we took the first steps. It changed everything. A few weeks later, we ended the war in Gaza, saving untold thousands of lives. We also brought home all remaining hostages, both living and dead, every single one of them.

44:39Thank you. Thank you. Everyone thought it was a miracle that we were able to do so, and people celebrated in the streets. I want to express my gratitude to the United Nations Security Council for their unanimous endorsement of our 20-point Gaza peace plan and for officially approving the Board of Peace. It's going to be a very significant group of people. Nearly 30 countries have joined the board, which I am honored to chair, and we're thankful to many of those member nations for contributing billions and billions of dollars to relief. And it goes right to the rebuilding and relief of Morocco, Bahrain.

45:25These are the countries that gave Qatar, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and many more. That money goes right to the source, right where they need it, and they desperately need it. And those countries have been very generous, and others also are stepping up at numbers that nobody would even believe, because they want to see people live. They want to see the humanitarian thing happen properly. They've been fantastic. I also want to thank those who have committed troops, police, and training to help stabilize Gaza, including Indonesia, Morocco, Albania, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Egypt, Jordan, and more.

46:12Since I took office, it has been my great honor to settle eight wars and in so doing become friendly with the leaders of many of those countries. It was a great honor to do it. Numerous of these wars have gone on for many years and even decades. The reason I was able to make these settlements was the use of my relationships, very special relationships to this day, very, very special. Trade, the use of tariffs and the threat of tariffs and various other reasons depending on the country. Among them, in terms of settlement, Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, Pakistan and India, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

47:08and, of course, the war in Gaza, which, as I stated previously, includes the return of all hostages, both living and dead. Almost every one of these countries wrote me a letter of thank you. The prime minister of Pakistan, terrific man, said that Donald Trump was responsible for saving 30 million lives and probably many more than that. The president of Azerbaijan said President Trump in six months did a miracle. It was an absolute miracle that nobody thought could be done. The Prime Minister of Armenia said this breakthrough would simply not have been possible without President Trump's personal engagement and his resolute commitment to peace.

47:53A president of Cambodia stated President Trump's extraordinary statesmanship, marked by his commitment to resolving conflicts and preventing catastrophic wars through visionary innovative diplomacy was most recently demonstrated in his decisive role in brokering an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and peace. This timely intervention, which averted a potentially devastating conflict, was vital in preventing a great loss of lives and paved the way towards the restoration of peace. The president of Rwanda said when President Trump saw the opportunity to contribute to peace, he immediately took it.

48:36This conflict has lasted for 32 years. Millions and millions of people have died. We got it settled. We've seen countless mediations and efforts, but none has succeeded in resolving the underlying issues. President Donald Trump issued a new and effective statement that really has brought great peace and space through really a breakthrough that we thought was impossible. We're working very closely with the leaders of Russia and Ukraine and we will get that one done. It's going to happen I think more quickly that people understand. They've had it. 25 ,000 young people, mostly soldiers a month are dying.

49:2725 ,000 a month. And I look at those battlefield pictures and I really don't want to see them anymore. It's so horrible to see. 25 ,000 a month, both sides. In addition, the United States and Iran will definitely get it done. We will get it done one way or the other. It's going to be done. It's going to be done fast. A lot has happened since we last gathered here one year ago. In January, at my direction, the United States military conducted a massive military operation penetrating deep into the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. Descended on a heavily defended and fortified military base, one that was supposed to be flawless against attack, and arrested the outlaw dictator, real criminal, Nicolas Maduro.

50:20Since that day, hundreds of Venezuelan political prisoners have been freed. They've let them out of jails, and we're working closely with the leaders of Venezuela to forge a much better future for the Venezuelan people. Last month, we signed the largest oil deal in history, covering 65 billion barrels of oil, which will benefit both Venezuela and the United States enormously and help drive down the cost of energy all over the world. And that is starting to perk right now. It's coming out. The biggest oil companies in the world are going in. And the numbers are absolutely incredible. When you add the United States and Venezuela together.

51:02We have more than 60 percent of the oil in the world. So it's perhaps the biggest deal. It was a war, but it's perhaps the biggest deal ever made to the victor along the spoils. You've all heard that. Our actions in Venezuela are proof that the United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. And if necessary, we will use our unmatched military might to secure the vital national interests of the United States. As you know, Venezuela had the finest equipment in the world from other countries. And guess what? It didn't work. Didn't even come close to working.

51:46For decades, other administrations allowed much of this region to be dominated by vicious gangs and bloodthirsty drug cartels, destabilized by uncontrolled migration and infiltrated by hostile foreign adversaries, foreign, sick, demented adversaries. But not anymore. We're reasserting American power, including American military power, where necessary, in our region and around the world to create a safer future for all of us. it's happening and it's happening quickly. Upon taking office, I designated the drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and unleashed the United States Armed Forces to eliminate them.

52:37The cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere, not good people. They're enemies at war with civilization using murder, rape, torture, and extortion as instruments of terror. Like ISIS, they should be killed, exiled, or detained as enemy combatants without the possibility of release, which is what we're doing. To that end, the United States has carried out dozens of strikes on cartel drug boats, destroying 97 percent of the drugs coming into the ocean and sea. You've seen it. They disappear very quickly and we're down 90 percent. They're down 97 percent. Nobody thought that was possible. It was a big source of delivery.

53:26And three months ago, we terminated the leader of the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua. Mexico is the epicenter of the cartel violence, unfortunately. It's unacceptable for the United States to share a 2 ,000-mile border with a territory controlled by enemy cartels. So Mexico must reclaim control of its soil from the enemies of humanity. My administration is also seeking a fundamental change in the situation in Cuba, where the communist regime is under great pressure, the biggest pressure they've ever been under. It's an absolutely failed state. It's failing like never before, and it will fall.

54:10Marco Rubio is handling a negotiation. He's deep into negotiations with Cuba. Let's see what happens. We'll not allow a haven for foreign adversaries to threaten America on our own doorstep. It's right at our doorstep. The Cuban regime has also spent decades coordinating with the left-wing radicals and communist networks here in the United States. As our State Department has detailed, they've cultivated ties to subversive and radical groups such as the Communist Party USA, Antifa, and the Democrat Socialists of America. Communism will never be coming to America, but freedom will be coming to Cuba, and safety and security will be coming to Mexico.

54:57I'm very proud to tell you we have a very good relationship with the Mexican government. We've made great strides, very great strides with Mexico. They don't want the cartels either. And when that day comes, this entire region will be a better, safer, and more beautiful place in which to live and thrive. As I announced just days ago, the United States has also reached an unprecedented agreement regarding the northern frontier of North America, the large and strategically vital piece of land known as Greenland. This agreement made with the kingdom of Denmark, an incredible, beautiful country, and the Greenland people itself gives the United States permanent control over security and all other needs on that territory.

55:45We will have the complete ability to do what is necessary to defend the American continent and also Europe and other places. No U.S. adversary will ever be permitted to establish a military presence in Greenland anymore or make sensitive investments there without our express written approval. We will immediately begin the process of developing a large military presence in the appropriate locations. We'll be building two very major military bases. This agreement will be signed later today, and I look forward to working with the wonderful people of Denmark and Greenland. It's been a great experience, amazing experience, and we've really formed a bond in doing it.

56:33By expanding America's footprint in the Arctic and North Atlantic, this deal also protects Europe in addition to America and greatly protects them. It also very much enhances NATO, who has a great leader. And Mark, I know you're in the audience, and you are indeed a great leader, Mark Ruta, which is now growing stronger than ever before. NATO is doing things that nobody thought they would be able to do, including raising their number to 5 percent from 2 percent number. That's a protection. and it's going to be much greater protection for them. We continue to seek and end the disastrous war between Russia and Ukraine, which is killing, as I said, thousands and thousands of people every month.

57:23Last week, in honor of Senator Lindsey Graham, I signed a powerful new law passed by Congress providing me with enormous new tariff authorities, and if necessary, I will have to use them. It's time to stop the killing. I also want to recognize the extraordinary work of our great First Lady, who has secured the safe return of many displaced Ukrainian and Russian children back home to their families. So many. Thank you very much, First Lady. Thank you very much. Where is our First Lady? Where is she? She's around here someplace. Can you imagine I can't see the First Lady? Thank you very much, First Lady.

58:06great job she worked so hard on it this year she also became the only first lady in history to preside over a meeting of the un security council and she did it very well and today she's hosting a gathering of fostering the future together which has nearly 60 members to help improve the lives of young people all over the world so melania thank you very much Great job. Great job you're doing. Led by Ambassador Michael Walz here at the United Nations, we have also worked with many countries in this room to implement the most sweeping UN reforms in history. We cut the UN budget for the first time ever, slashing it by 15 percent in 2026, and eliminated more than 4 ,000 positions from the UN bureaucracy.

58:55The United Nations has great, great potential. I've said that for many years, but it must stop imposing the far left agenda of globalist bureaucrats who nobody ever elected. Last year, my administration was forced to intervene to stop an obscure UN body, the International Maritime Organization, from secretly establishing a first ever global carbon tax, very expensive tax, to raise international shipping costs by 10 to 20 percent and maybe more than that. There is no global government. And while I'm president, there will be no global taxes. The United States is equally opposed to the out of control.

59:40Thank you. Thank you very much. The United States is equally opposed to the out of control institution known as the International Criminal Court. We will never allow U.S. service members or anyone else to be investigated or given show trials by an anti-American tribunal with no jurisdiction over us. They're an evil group of people. I call on all nations that are members of the ICC to officially resign from this rogue institution immediately. It is equally unacceptable that with all the genuine atrocities in the world, the U.N.'s top human rights officials spend their time criticizing the United States for protecting our children from transgender mutilization and transgender insanity and enforcing our immigration laws.

1:00:35What they do is unbelievable. What they do is transgender mutilization of our children. The craven hypocrites of Human Rights Council have little to say about the persecution of Christians. I mean, Christians are being persecuted all over the world. It's not even believable. I never thought I'd say it, but it's been happening for a long time. So this is persecution of Christians who are the crimes of the world's most repressive regimes, yet they want America to open up our borders to gangs and criminals from world's most dangerous places. They want the worst people to come in from the worst places on earth, and we don't do it anymore.

1:01:17We did do it, but we don't do that anymore. It is deeply ironic that the United Nations has an entire institution, the UNESCO group of people and countries devoted to protecting cultural heritage, yet with their ceaseless promotion of mass migration, these globalists are actively destroying the greatest cultures and most extraordinary heritage in all of history. There is no human right to illegal immigration, but there is a right to remain a sovereign nation, and we want to remain a sovereign nation, and so should you. The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control for the artificial intelligence, being spoken of so much now, here and after officially called super intelligence, changing the name, and that the use of the word artificial makes intelligence fake.

1:02:17It makes it sound fake, and it is not fake. It's actually amazing, but we have to be careful. In fact, it is exactly the opposite of what it purports. From this point forward, all of United States documents, and hopefully the worlds, will be changed to use the much more accurate term super as opposed to artificial. So it's super intelligence. In other words, welcome to the new world of super intelligence dash SI. SI. Let's see if that goes. It sounds much better. It is much better. And it's much more accurate. Let's see if I have any power. Maybe I do and maybe I don't. We're going to find out pretty soon.

1:03:02Super intelligence. Every major new technology brings challenges. And super intelligence is no exception. Yet the very same people who said we'll all be dead in 12 years because of global warming, a name since reborn to climate change because the planet was cooling, not warming, and nobody was dead. These are the same people that are now saying that AI is going to kill us all, that robots are going to attack us, and that everything is going to be a total disaster. Same group of people. This is the group that came up with the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, the Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine hoax, climate change, open borders.

1:03:49Whoever wins AI, you have to remember this. And now I say whoever wins SI, whoever wins super intelligent wins. That's the group that wins. And we're leading now over China by a lot and everyone else. And we're going to keep it that way. We're going to keep it very, very straight and very strong. I'm not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the Industrial Revolution. Many say bigger than the Industrial Revolution or the Internet itself. And we will be very careful. And that's why we have a Department of Justice that we've already used it having to do with this very subject and used it very powerfully.

1:04:32Everything worked out very well and very quickly. And other law enforcement bodies that will rein things in if we have to do that. But we will only encourage superintelligence. We're going to encourage it, not rein it in. We're going to watch it closely through the Department of Justice. The United States leads the world in superintelligence and will continue to do so safely and responsibly. Americans have never been a nation that retreats from a frontier or shrinks from a challenge, no matter how great or how daunting that challenge may be. Freedom was not a gift that Americans won easily after 250 years, and it is not one that we will ever, ever, ever surrender.

1:05:19It was right here in New York City that George Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence read to his troops in 1776. As they listened to those immortal words for the first time, the patriots could see across the waters of New York Harbor to a British invasion fleet, more than 100 ships strong, which had just arrived to crush the cause of liberty. Thousands of soldiers getting off those ships. Nobody stood a chance, but we won, and we won decisively. Those first Americans knew that it is not enough merely to believe in great principles. We must also have the will and the courage and the strength to defend them.

1:06:02As we gather in this same city two and a half centuries later to discuss the great events of our time, that is the challenge for every nation in this room. If we go forward strong and united against the enemies of all humanity, if we reject the voices who would have us give in to fear and doubt, if we refuse to shrink from our duties to our people, then together through bold action, we will make this world far safer and a far better place. We will leave our nations far stronger. We will grow our economies far bigger. And we will not just speak of peace, prosperity, and justice here at the United Nations.

1:06:51We will stand for them all over the world. Together, we will build a future for a people that is brighter, more hopeful, and more magnificent than ever before. Thank you. God bless the nations of the world, and God bless America. Thank you very much, everybody.

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