US Diplomats Walk Out of UN Meeting as France Blasts Trump's 10%-12.5% Tariff Rights Rationale
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 28
US Diplomats Walk Out of UN Meeting as France Blasts Trump's 10%-12.5% Tariff Rights Rationale
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 28
Summary
US diplomats staged a walkout during a UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine after France attacked Washington’s human rights record under Donald Trump and likened its isolation to countries including Russia and North Korea.
The clash followed the Trump administration’s move to impose 10%-12.5% tariffs on imports from more than 80 countries while citing forced-labor concerns, a justification critics called a pretext.
Volker Türk’s reappointment as UN human rights chief sharpened the dispute: the US was among 10 countries voting no, but 144 backed him and 13 abstained.
Dan Negrea, the US deputy ambassador, said Washington would keep walking out until France retracts its “condescending and disrespectful rhetoric,” while France’s ambassador defended the UN’s human-rights mission.
The episode deepens a transatlantic rift already fueled by Trump-era scrutiny of US immigration custody deaths and by tariffs hitting allies including the UK, Canada, Australia and the EU.