France’s President Emmanuel Macron delivered a thinly veiled rebuke of the policies, or ways, of his US counterpart Donald Trump in a speech before the UN General Assembly.

Speaking minutes after Trump’s address in which he lambasted international “interference” in policy making, Macron seemed to be refuting the US state leader point by point.

The French President blasted nationalism and “the law of the powerful”, defended multilateralism, and dismissed US policies aimed at isolating Iran.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly, Trump had promised never to surrender US sovereignty to an “unelected, unaccountable global bureaucracy”, and accused Iran’s regime of having a “blood agenda” in Yemen and Syria.

“Nationalism always leads to defeat,” Macron declared shortly after him, as cited by France24.

“[Unilateralism leads] directly to isolation and conflict … to the detriment of everyone, even in the end those who thought they were strongest,” he stated.

“The law of the jungle does not protect any people against any threat whatsoever, whether chemical or nuclear,” the French leader argued.

Even though he acknowledged that skepticism with respect to international bodies such as the UN and the EU was increasing, Macron made a call for “dialogue and multilateralism”.

He insisted that the 2015 Iranian Nuclear Deal – from which Trump withdrew the United States and them imposed new US sanctions on Tehran – had indeed help curb Iran’s nuclear program.

“What will bring a real solution to the situation in Iran and what has already stabilized it? The law of the strongest? Pressure from only one side? No!” he said.

“We know that Iran was on a nuclear military path but what stopped it? The 2015 Vienna accord,” the French President stated.

Macron thus spelled out one of the thorniest current issues in the relations between the European Union and the United States.

He argued that Iran should be allowed to sell its oil on global markets, which, in his words, would have the added benefit of assuaging Trump’s own fears over the rising oil prices.

The French leader also criticized the Trump administration on its decision to withdraw the US from the Paris Climate Change Agreement, including by warning that future trade deals could be conditional on membership in it.

“[Even those who contest the reality [of climate change] are suffering its consequences like everyone else,” Macron told the UN General Assembly.

(Banner image: UN)