US President Donald Trump on Tuesday used the UN General Assembly to aim at Europe, along with India and China, for buying Russian oil, and pitched himself for the Nobel Peace Prize while claiming again that he had ended seven wars, including between India and Pakistan, since he assumed office in January.

Stating that the US "is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs" to stop the bloodshed, Trump said it would be effective only if European nations joined America in "adopting the exact same measures".

Scathing in his criticism of Nato countries for not cutting off dependence on Russian energy products in the three-and-a-half years since the war against Ukraine began, he billed it as inexcusable and an embarrassment.

"China and India are the primary funders of the ongoing war by continuing to purchase Russian oil, but inexcusably, even Nato countries have not cut off much Russian energy and Russian energy products…. Think of it. They are funding the war against themselves. Who the hell ever heard of that one.

"In the event Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the US is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs which would stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly but for those tariffs to be effective, European nations… would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures...

"Europe has to step it up. They can’t be doing what they are doing. They are buying oil and gas from Russia while fighting Russia…. It’s embarrassing to them… They have to immediately cease all energy purchases from Russia otherwise we are all wasting a lot of time," Trump said.

'Role reversal'

He was equally critical of the United Nations for failing its mandate, stating that it was nowhere in the picture when he was solving the seven wars. "In a period of seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars…. In all cases, they were raging with countless, thousands of people being killed. This includes Cambodia and Thailand, Kosovo and Serbia, the Congo and Rwanda…, Pakistan and India, Israel and Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Armenia and Azerbaijan.

"No President or Prime Minister, and for that matter, no other country has ever done anything close to that, and I did it in just seven months…. It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them and, sadly, in all cases the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them. I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each and every of these countries and never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help in finalising the deal."

Old grouse

In his rant against the UN, Trump also revealed his peeve against the organisation, recalling how it had not accepted his design for the building decades ago and linking the shoddy job done by his competitor to the fact that the elevator had a malfunction earlier in the day when he and First Lady Melania Trump were on it. "Two things I got from the United Nations — a bad elevator and a bad teleprompter… thank you very much."

39 seconds with Lula

Trump said he planned to meet next week with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, adding that they had "excellent chemistry" during a brief encounter at the UNGA.

Trump said that he and Lula spoke briefly and embraced after the Brazilian leader addressed the Assembly. The two leaders have been at odds for months over the trial and conviction of Brazilian former President Jair Bolsonaro. "We had a good talk, and we agreed to meet next week," Trump said. "He seemed like a very nice man ... At least for about 39 seconds, we had excellent chemistry," he added. "It's a good sign."