For many Europeans, however, there is anxiety about a second Trump administration and what some see as his transactional approach to foreign relations.
A European diplomat told me that with the Security Council incapable of managing conflicts, there is a fear that an emboldened and potentially more radical Trump administration would add to the dysfunction and encourage more movement in Europe toward the ultra-right.
“I think it would be a relief for at least the majority of Europeans if Harris comes into office,” he said.
Nevertheless, another senior European diplomat said that while Harris winning would give them a sense of continuity, they also now have a relationship from working with Trump for four years and feel more prepared than in 2016.
Coinciding with the UN high level debate was Climate Week in New York City. Caribbean leaders spoke not only from the green and gold General Assembly Hall, but also to rooms full of businessmen and politicians at side events to warn that the world is dangerously behind on its climate commitments, putting their islands at risk.
One minister from the region told me that climate was the main area where the US candidates’ differences worried them. “In terms of having real commitment from the US government and for the US government to provide leadership,” the minister said it’s “definitely Democrats”.
Many still remember Trump pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, while Joe Biden later rejoined.
The Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, said political change has been a challenge to progress over the last 26 years. He said he’s been calling for some kind of mechanism that protects a change in political leadership from impeding or reversing progress.
Election day on 5 November may feel faraway to diplomats who have been confronted with more challenges than solutions here this past week.
But the time is fast approaching when votes will be counted in the US, and with it a new face in the White House.
Another European minister, running to an event, simply had this to say to me: “My hope is that it doesn’t get too weird.”
Additional reporting by Cai Pigliucci.
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