UN 'ready to work' with second Trump presidency

Donald Trump and many Republicans are deeply distrustful of the UN and other international forums

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and US president Donald Trump at the UN in 2017. Reuters

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Now that Donald Trump will once again be US President, other countries are bracing for his return to the White House. At the UN, attention is turning to how a second Trump administration could alter the US stance on the Security Council, where it holds a veto and is consistently pro-Israel.

Mr Trump and many Republicans are deeply distrustful of the UN and other international forums. A former Trump-era diplomat to the UN told The National that “respect for the UN has its limits, and the [Trump] administration will refuse to be bogged down in dialogue that hinders its geopolitical vision”.

During Mr Trump's first term in office, his administration antagonised the UN, targeting perceived anti-Americanism and going after agencies it considered corrupt. The diplomat said the Trump administration identified long-standing issues, such as an excessive focus on and criticism of Israel's actions, as barriers to progress.

Under a second Trump term, the diplomat predicted the US would probably withdraw once more from the Human Rights Council and limit engagement with the World Health Organisation and Unesco, as well as block regimes such as Iran or Venezuela from serving on UN committees.

Nikki Haley and Kelly Craft, who were both Mr Trump's UN ambassadors, tried to shift scrutiny from Israel while also countering Beijing’s ambitions to lead various UN agencies, the diplomat added. “We would likely see the UN bypassed more often than under the Biden administration,” they concluded.

The UN is “ready to work constructively” with the new Trump administration, Secretary General Antonio Guterres said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr Guterres's spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that Mr Guterres had very good relations with Mr Trump.

“The fact they had different opinions about a number of issues was clear to all. I think the Secretary General stated his opinions. The US administration had its policies but it did not stop the Secretary General from engaging with the United States government,” he said.

Republicans from across the party's widening ideological spectrum are sceptical of the UN. Mike McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, said the General Assembly needs to address a “declining ability of the UN to undertake serious reform”.

“While ineffective at solving conflict, the unique role the UN plays in providing humanitarian assistance to innocent civilians suffering from conflict and disaster should be strengthened,” he told The National.

Mr Trump previously came to power with a proposal to slash US diplomacy and aid budgets by roughly one-third, including significant cuts to UN peacekeeping and international organisation funding. However, Congress, responsible for setting the federal budget, resisted these reductions but did halt funding for UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East.

As the largest contributor, the US covers 22 percent of the core UN budget and 27 percent of the peacekeeping budget, with China as the second-largest contributor.

Mr McCaul believes a second Trump administration would establish “rigorous oversight and accountability of UN funds, whether it is money going into Afghanistan or UNRWA”.

Republicans have led a bi-partisan charge in Washington that saw the successful halt on US funds for UNRWA, which under current law will continue until at least 2025. Many Republicans want the agency shut down entirely. Democrats remain critical of UNRWA but some are moving to restore its funding.

Mr Trump withdrew the US from several key UN bodies, including the Human Rights Council, WHO and Unesco, as well as from the Paris climate agreement. Mr McCaul calls such bodies “flawed entities resistant to change”.

If the world body “survived” the Trump administration, it is due largely to Mr Guterres. “It wasn’t something that was obvious … it's something that needs to be said,” another diplomat told The National.

Richard Gowan, the UN specialist at the International Crisis Group, anticipates significant cuts to the UN budget are likely, as many congressional Republicans express strong support for reducing US funding, especially in light of the current geopolitical climate.

Mr Dujarric told reporters that the UN chief had been “very frugal” in managing the money, because “we've had over the last few years been living in a liquidity crisis”.

But there are points of tension between the Republican foreign policy leadership and Mr Trump's more right-wing corner of the party. Party members such as Mr McCaul have forcefully criticised Russia and support packages for Ukraine since Russian President Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion in 2022.

Mr Trump has described Mr Putin as “pretty savvy” and a “genius,” and has threatened to condition support for fellow Nato countries on them paying 2 per cent of GDP towards defence.

The radical House Freedom Caucus, which most aligns with Mr Trump, have been outliers in Congress with their demands to temper US support to Ukraine. But Mr McCaul says he is optimistic that a second Trump administration would “prioritise putting pro-democracy, anti-authoritarian nominees on crucial boards and subagencies to promote our democratic values” at the UN.

“We need strong American leadership at the UN. This includes when we are standing up for our allies and partners like Israel and Ukraine, and when we are confronting our adversaries,” he added.

“Let’s not forget: the Biden-Harris administration has repeatedly stuck to its policy of appeasement, which has only emboldened our adversaries.”