US diplomats walked out of a United Nations meeting after France criticized the country’s human rights record under Donald Trump.
The staged walkout, which occurred on Monday during a UN security council meeting on the Ukraine-Russia war, came days after the Trump administration cited “forced labor” allegations as it imposed sweeping tariffs on dozens of countries.
Critics accused the US president of leaning on the claims as a “convenient” justification for the new duties, which were unveiled on Thursday.
The following day, the Trump administration criticized the credibility of the UN human rights system and opposed the reappointment of Volker Türk, the UN human rights chief, prompting an extraordinary intervention on social media from France’s UN mission in Geneva.
“The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore,” the French Geneva mission said in response. “Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali & Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it.
“#AmericaAlone,” it added.
Last March, Türk said he was “deeply worried by the fundamental shift in direction” in the US. In June, Türk took sharp aim at the Trump administration by calling for “prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations” into the deaths occurring in US government immigration custody.
In addition to the US, nine other countries voted no to Türk’s re-appointment, including Russia, North Korea, Israel, Nicaragua and Mali. His re-appointment was ultimately approved, with ۱۴۴ countries including France, China and the UK in favor, while ۱۳ countries abstained.
In response to the French mission’s post, the US ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, wrote on X on Sunday and said: “It is disappointing – though not surprising – that this is how France deflects on its shameful vote to coddle some of the worst human rights abusers.
“France voted for someone who has been lecturing, free, sovereign democracies like the United States, the UK, and Israel, while cozying up to the world’s worst oppressors.”
The US continued to criticize France during Monday’s meeting, with Dan Negrea, the US deputy ambassador, claiming that the US “remains the beacon of liberty for the world”.
“As such, we will not be affording them the benefit of listening to their politicized drivel until they renounce their condescending and disrespectful rhetoric and behave in a manner commensurate with their seat on this council,” said Negrea.
France’s UN ambassador, Jérôme Bonnafont, did not mention the walkout, instead saying on Monday: “The United Nations was created with the goal of working towards international peace and security, human rights and development,” the Associated Press reports. “All of that forms the spirit in which France works within the United Nations … to preserve this institution, its independence, its ability to act in service of the charter and act to serve human rights and peace.”
The US walkout came after Trump faced bipartisan criticism over his use of “forced labor” as “a pretext” for imposing controversial new tariffs of between ۱۰% and ۱۲.۵% on imports from more than ۸۰ countries. Those include longstanding allies such as the UK, Canada, Australia, and the European Union, alongside Mexico, India and China.
Criticizing the tariffs, Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House’s ways and means committee, said last week: “Forced labor is a real and pervasive problem in our supply chains and demands serious enforcement. It should never be cheapened into a pretext for a tariff policy built on dubious legal theories and personal grievances.’’
