United States in September 2026: the most important developments in politics
In the United States in September 2026, politics was shaped by the UN General Assembly in New York, where world leaders gathered from September 22 and President Donald Trump used his speech on September 23 to promote his record and criticize the UN. The war with Iran ran through the month. US and Iranian officials met for about three hours on the sidelines of the Assembly, their first talks since June, and Trump said they went very well. Iran offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the US lifted its blockade; Trump rejected the proposal on September 26 and said more talks were expected. On September 16 the House passed a war powers resolution directing him to end the war, and a UN fact-finding mission said there were reasonable grounds to believe the US committed war crimes in Iran and Tehran committed crimes against humanity. By September 30 the talks were at a stalemate.
Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit to Washington from September 23 to 25, greeted by Trump at the airport and hosted at a state dinner. Both leaders backed each other's hosting of APEC and G-20 summits, and Trump said he will travel to China in November. The summit ended without a joint statement.
Ahead of the November midterm elections, Trump told a Republican convention in Dallas on September 10 that he would pay every American adult $5,000 if Republicans win both chambers; critics called it vote buying. Vice President JD Vance gave the keynote address. Trump's approval fell to a record low of 32% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll, and some Republican candidates distanced themselves from him. The Supreme Court on September 15 left mail-ballot rules unchanged, and rejected Missouri's Republican-drawn congressional map for a third time.
On Ukraine, envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner visited Moscow on September 5 and 6, met Vladimir Putin and then went to Kyiv. Trump spoke with Putin on September 8, and by September 25 the US had proposed three-way talks in the United Arab Emirates. Elsewhere, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney sought a closer alliance with the EU after Trump's tariffs, a federal judge on September 24 ordered the White House to restore press access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico, and Trump announced a security deal giving the US control over Greenland's defense.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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