Obama slams Trump’s trade, immigration policies at UN

Addressing the United Nations General Assembly for his eighth and final time as head of state, US President Barack Obama argued against the immigration and trade policies of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

Without mentioning Trump by name, Obama said Tuesday that leaders cannot afford to “dismiss these visions” of nationalist fervor.

“Today, a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself,” Obama said. 

“I believe that the acceleration of travel and technology and telecommunications, together with a global economy that depends on a global supply chain, makes it self-defeating ultimately for those who seek to reverse this progress,” he said. “Today, a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself.”

He also appeared to criticize Trump’s proposal to increase tariffs on imports from China and Mexico, a move many economists say would lead to a recession and trade war.

“If we start resorting to trade wars and market-distorting subsidies, beggar-thy-neighbor policies and overreliance on natural resources instead of innovation, these approaches will make us poorer collectively and they are more likely to lead to conflict,” Obama said.

Trump trade proposal to impose stiff tariffs on China and Mexico could push the US economy into recession and cost 5 million American jobs, according to a new study.

China and Mexico may retaliate with tariffs on US goods and services if Washington imposes tariffs on Chinese and Mexican goods, resulting in recession within three years, according to a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington, DC, think tank that favors free trade.

During his 48-minute speech, Obama acknowledged that the United States and other world powers have limited ability to solve the most profound challenges facing the world.

He also argued that Israel will be better off if it makes peace with Palestinians and realize it cannot permanently occupy the Palestinian lands.

"Surely Israelis and Palestinians will be better off if Palestinians reject incitement and recognize the legitimacy of Israel ... (and if) Israel recognizes that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land," Obama said.

The presence and continued expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestine has created a major obstacle to the efforts to establish peace in the Middle East region.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 230 illegal settlement colonies built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem al-Quds.

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