Trump Signs Executive Order Calling for Review of U.S. Ties to U.N.
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The move cast uncertainty on the leadership role of the United States in the global body. The president also withdrew from the U.N.’s Human Rights Council and stopped funding UNRWA.
President Trump signed an executive order on Tuesday calling for a general review of U.S. funding and involvement in the United Nations, casting uncertainty on the leadership role the United States has played as the global body’s top donor.
“I’ve always felt that the U.N. has tremendous potential,” Mr. Trump said before signing the order in the Oval Office. “It’s not living up to that potential right now.”
Mr. Trump also withdrew the United States from the U.N.’s Human Rights Council and stopped funding the U.N. agency that aids Palestinians, UNRWA, which provides critical humanitarian assistance to millions of people in war-torn Gaza. Those moves were expected because Mr. Trump had withdrawn U.S. involvement from both organizations during his first term as president.
In addition, Mr. Trump’s order called for a review of U.S. involvement in UNESCO, which protects world heritage sites, on allegations that it had exhibited what the White House staff secretary, Will Scharf, called “anti-American bias.” In handing the order to Mr. Trump to sign, Mr. Scharf said it derived from “wild disparity and levels of funding among different countries” that Mr. Trump viewed as “deeply unfair to the U.S.”
In response to the executive order, Stéphane Dujarric, a U.N. spokesman, said U.S. support for the U.N. had advanced global security and that Secretary General António Guterres “looks forward to continuing his productive relationship with President Trump and the U.S. Government to strengthen that relationship in today’s turbulent world.”
The U.N. has been bracing for Mr. Trump’s second term, having already experienced a turbulent period during his first four years in office. Mr. Guterres managed the U.N.’s then-tense relations with Washington by mostly refraining from engaging in public spats with Mr. Trump.