Dalai Lama says America is more 'selfish' under Trump

Tibetan leader expressed concern over President's 'America First' policy

The Dalai Lama is not the first religious leader to criticise Trump (Reuters)

The Dalai Lama has said the United States is becoming more “selfish” and “nationalist” under the leadership of Donald Trump.

The spiritual head of Tibet said he was concerned about Mr Trump’s “America First” policy and the country’s stance on global warming.

“Your ancestors really considered the importance of liberty, freedom, democracy, these things,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post.

“The present President, in the very beginning he mentioned ‘America first.’ That sounded in my ear not very nice.”

The 82-year-old Buddhist monk went on to criticise the US’ policies on climate change.

“The present President is not much paying attention to ecology. So on that, I feel some reservation.

“But anyway, the American people elected him, so I must respect [that].”

The Dalai Lama is not the first religious leader to criticise the US President’s policies.

Pope Francis has notably clashed with Mr Trump over addressing climate change, helping migrants and the construction of border walls.

When Pope Francis visited Mexico during the 2016 presidential race, he told reporters: “A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”

The President hit back saying the Pope’s comments were “disgraceful”, adding: “If and when the Vatican is attacked by ISIS, which as everyone knows is ISIS’s ultimate trophy, I can promise you that the Pope would have only wished and prayed that Donald Trump would have been President because this would not have happened.”