Trump to UN: US Will Only Give Aid 'to Our Friends'

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States would only give aid to countries that it regarded as allies.

"We will examine what is working, what is not working, and whether the countries who receive our dollars and our protection also have our interests at heart," Trump said in a wide-ranging speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

“We will not be held hostage to old dogmas, discredited ideologies and so-called experts who have been proven wrong over the years, time and time again,” he said.

He singled out China for “abuse” in its trade practices.

“We are not going to put up with it, these horrible processes, much longer,” he said. The United States is the largest provider of foreign aid, “but few give anything to us. That is why we are taking a hard look at foreign assistance,” he said.

"Moving forward, we are only going to give foreign aid to those who respect us and frankly are our friends."

Trump also:

• Warned that the U.S. would respond to any new chemical weapons attack by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's regime as he called for fresh momentum to be injected into international peace efforts. "The ongoing tragedy in Syria is heartbreaking. Our shared goals must be the de-escalation of military conflict, along with a political solution that honors the will of the Syrian people," Trump said .
• Accused the International Criminal Court of lacking any legitimacy, saying it violated "all principles of justice," and saying that "As far as America is concerned, the ICC has no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority." Trump said of the world court.
• Called on the rest of the world to isolate Iran and said a U.S. campaign of "economic pressure" would turn back the Islamic Republic’s aggression.  Trump said that while he had replaced "the specter of conflict" with North Korea "with a bold and new push for peace," tensions with Iran have increased since the 2015 nuclear deal signed by former President Barack Obama. "We ask all nations to isolate Iran’s regime as long as its aggression continues," Trump said.
• Told Germany to follow Poland's example and not rely on Russia for its energy supplies which could make it vulnerable to "extortion and intimidation."
• Resumed his attacks on OPEC, saying the cartel is pushing oil prices too high and demanding that some members start paying the U.S. for military protection."OPEC nations are, as usual, ripping off the rest of the world and I don’t like it," Trump said. We want them to stop raising prices. We want them to start lowering prices and they must contribute substantially to military protection from now on." He added,"We defend many of these nations for nothing, and then they take advantage of us by giving us high oil prices. Not good! We’re not going to put up with it — these horrible prices — much longer.'

Early on, Trump also drew blank stares, headshakes, and even laughter from wary world leaders.

His opening line Tuesday, as he bragged about how successful his administration has been, was widely laughed at by the assembled group of world leaders.

Trump briefly appeared flustered before remarking that it was not the reaction he expected.

Trump has long claimed that his predecessors' weak leadership prompted other nations "to laugh" at the U.S.

Some in the audience also grumbled during Trump's remarks when he said "we reject the ideology" of globalism and criticized nations such as Germany for agreeing to an oil pipeline with Russia.

Material from AFP and The Associated Press, and Bloomberg News was used in compiling this report.