US Delegation Withdraws from UN Meeting Following French Criticism of Trump Administration
US diplomats walked out of the meeting room while their French counterparts were speaking at the United Nations on Monday, after the close European ally to the United States criticized the Trump administration’s human rights record.
The sudden move came during a meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine, following the US opposition to granting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk a second four-year term. His renewal, announced last Friday, received broad support, including from France.
The US withdrawal reflects not only the growing tensions between President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, but also broader strains between the United States and Europe. These tensions include questions about Trump’s commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), potential changes in the deployment of US forces in Europe, and Trump’s desire to control Greenland, a territory belonging to Denmark, a NATO member.
Trump complained that Europeans, who were not consulted, did not assist the United States during the war with Iran. Amid these tensions, Macron has taken a leading role in an effort to strengthen Europe’s military capabilities and ensure a nuclear umbrella, as France is one of the two nuclear powers on the continent alongside Britain.
Following the brief walkout on Monday, US Deputy Ambassador Dan Negrea accused France of feigning “moral outrage” and pretending to lecture the world on every issue, including human rights.
He stated that the United States had stood by France in every conflict where its “freedom was threatened,” and had tolerated its political posturing “out of a spirit of solidarity and mutual respect,” but that this would no longer continue.
The walkout was triggered by a social media post published by France’s UN mission in Geneva on Friday, which criticized the US opposition to granting the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights a second term. The UN General Assembly voted 144 in favor of Türk, with 10 against and 13 abstentions. The United States was among the countries that voted against him.
