US Walks Out of UN Meeting After France Slams Trump's Human Rights Record

A war of words between the United States and France erupted at the United Nations on Monday after the US delegation walked out of a Security Council meeting during France's address, following sharp criticism of the Trump administration's human rights record. The extraordinary diplomatic clash has fuelled speculation that a broader President Donald Trump-President Emmanuel Macron showdown could be brewing amid widening transatlantic differences.

The dispute began after the UN General Assembly reappointed Volker Türk as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for a second four year term by 144 votes to 10, with 13 abstentions, despite opposition from the United States, Russia and Israel. Washington argued the selection process was rushed, while Moscow said the incoming UN secretary general should choose the next rights chief.

Tensions escalated after France's UN Mission in Geneva posted on X: "The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore. Today, it stands alongside North Korea, Nicaragua, Mali & Russia, isolated. And the world no longer listens to it."

US Ambassador Mike Waltz responded on X, accusing France of "coddling some of the worst human rights abusers" by backing a rights chief who has been "lecturing free, sovereign democracies like the United States, the UK and Israel, while cozying up to the world's worst oppressors."

As French Ambassador Jérôme Bonnafont began speaking at Monday's Security Council meeting, the US delegation walked out. Deputy US Ambassador Dan Negrea later blasted Paris for "disingenuous grandstanding" and "feigning moral outrage," saying the United States had stood by France "in every conflict where its freedom has been imperiled" and tolerated its lectures "out of a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect, but no more." He declared, "The United States remains the beacon of liberty for the world," and said Washington would no longer listen to France's "politicized drivel" until it "renounce[s] their condescending and disrespectful rhetoric and behave[s] in a manner commensurate with their seat on this council."

Bonnafont declined to respond directly to the US criticism. Instead, he reminded the Council that France "helped the United States gain its independence" and said, "The United Nations was created with the goal of working towards international peace and security, human rights and development." He added that France would continue working "to preserve this institution, its independence, its ability to act in service of the Charter and to serve human rights and peace."

The dispute comes against a backdrop of growing friction between Trump and Macron over NATO, European defence, Greenland, Ukraine, the Iran conflict and Washington's approach to multilateral institutions. While there has been no direct exchange between the two presidents over the incident, the UN confrontation marks one of the sharpest public diplomatic clashes between Washington and Paris in recent years. Neither the White House nor the French government has issued further statements, and the UN has declined to intervene.