United Nations
The United Nations, founded in 1945, is a forum for communication between its 193 Member States, one of which is the United States. The mission and work of the United Nations is to "take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, such as peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, humanitarian and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, food production, and more...[it provides] a mechanism for governments to find areas of agreement and solve problems together." Source: The United Nations.
See also U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Timeline
| 2016.04.02 | Trump says NATO is "obsolete" and the United Nations is a "political game" during a campaign stop in Wisconsin. nytimes.com (See also Europe) |
| 2016.12.23 | Trump: "As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th." twitter.com |
| 2016.12.26 | Trump: "The United Nations has such great potential but right now it is just a club for people to get together, talk and have a good time. So sad!" twitter.com |
| 2016.24.11 | Trump chooses Nikki Haley, governor of South Carolina, to serve as US ambassador to United Nations. theguardian.com (See also Nikki Haley) |
| 2017.01.22 | House Republicans have introduced a bill that, if passed, would set in motion the United States’ withdrawal from the United Nations. jezebel.com |
| 2017.01.25 | Leaked draft documents suggest Trump plans to reduce the role of US at the United Nations, including drastic funding cuts ("at least 40% overall) to international organizations, and review all current and pending multilateral agreements. Countries that support the Palestine Authority will be targeted for funding cuts. nytimes.com (See also Israel) |
| 2017.01.25 | Trump is readying executive orders to stem refugees from ‘terror-prone’ regions and on the U.N. to halt funding for any organizations that give full membership to the Palestinian Authority, supports abortion programs or evades international sanctions against Iran or North Korea. washingtontimes.com (See also First 100 Days, Immigration, Syria, Iran, North Korea) |
| 2017.01.27 | Nikki Haley outlines her vision for the role of the US at the United Nations: "Our goal with the admin is to show value at the UN and the way that we will do that is to show strength, show our voice, have the backs of our allies and make sure our allies have our back as well," Haley said. "For those who don't have our backs, we're taking names." nbcnews.com (See also Nikki Haley) |
| 2017.01.28 | Trump delays executive orders that would reduce funding for United Nations and implement review and potential cancellation of certain multilateral treaties. nytimes.com |
| 2017.01.30 | United Nations human rights chief Zeid bin Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein tweeted in response to Trump's Muslim Immigration Ban: "Discrimination on nationality alone is forbidden under #humanrights law" and "The US ban is mean-spirited, and wastes resources need for proper counter-terrorism." twitter.com (See also Muslim Immigration Ban) |
| 2017.01.31 | Trump's pick for ambassador to the United Nations criticizes Iran for testing a long-range ballistic missile. businessinsider.com (See also Nikki Haley) |
| 2017.02.01 | U.N. Secretary General António Guterres says Trump's Muslim immigration ban violates "our basic principles," would not reduce terrorist threats, and should be immediately lifted. nytimes.com (See also Muslim Immigration Ban, Muslims) |
| 2017.02.03 | Nikki Haley makes reform of the United Nations' far-flung peacekeeping operations a top priority. sfchronicle.com (See also Nikki Haley) |
| 2017.02.03 | U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley blamed Russia for the recent surge of violence in eastern Ukraine and warned Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia will not be lifted until Moscow returns Crimea to Kiev. uk.mobile.reuters.com (See also Nikki Haley, Russia, Revi) |
| 2017.02.10 | Nikki Haley blocks the appointment of Salam Fayyad, former Palestinian prime minister, for a senior U.N. position as envoy to Libya in a move intended to signal U.S. support for Israel and its defense of the position that there is no Palestinian state. nytimes.com (See also Israel, Nikki Haley) |
| 2017.02.13 | Nikki Haley responds to North Korean ballistic missile launch with a statement at the U.N.: "We call on all members of the Security Council to use every available resource to make it clear to the North Korean regime, and its enablers, that these launches are unacceptable." The phrase "enablers" refers to China and is seen as an unusually public criticism. cnn.com (See also Nikki Haley, North Korea) The print statement issued by new US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on North Korea's missile launch was more notable than the UN Security Council action on the launch. |
| 2017.02.13 | The Pentagon has assessed that North Korea's weekend ballistic missile launch showed new capabilities. The launch involved the first land-based test of an intermediate-range missile that, in the past, has been fired from a submarine. It flew farther than any previous North Korean tests, about 300 miles before dropping into the Sea of Japan. cnn.com (See also North Korea) North Korea's new intermediate ballistic missile, the Pukguksong-2, can be launched more quickly and discreetly than its predecessor. |
| 2017.02.16 | Nikki Haley issues a statement on Israel following a security council meeting at the United Nations:. "I’m here to say the United States will not turn a blind eye to this anymore. I am here to underscore the ironclad support of the United States for Israel. I’m here to emphasize the United States is determined to stand up to the UN’s anti-Israel bias." unwatch.org (See also Nikki Haley, Israel) |
| 2017.02.20 | Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, a veteran diplomat known as a potent and personable voice for his country's interests as he sparred with his Western counterparts, died suddenly after falling ill Monday in his office at the mission. latimes.com (See also Russia) |
| 2017.02.24 | Russia vows to veto sanctions on Syria over chemical weapons, prompting a rebuke from U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. uk.reuters.com (See also Nikki Haley, Syria) |
| 2017.02.25 | The Trump administration is considering pulling the United States out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, a body that has been accused of being biased against Israel and criticized for including abusive governments, according to two sources in regular contact with former and current U.S. officials. politico.com |
| 2017.03.13 | Trump instructs State Department staffers to find ways to cut 50 percent ($5 billion) in U.S. funding for the United Nations. Most cuts will be to peacekeeping missions, UNICEF, and international development. U.N. expert Richard Gowan says this will cause a “breakdown of the international humanitarian system as we know it.” foreignpolicy.com (See also Foreign Policy) |
| 2017.03.14 | Secretary of State Rex Tillerson vows that the U.S. will leave the U.N. Human Rights Council if the organization does not undertake "considerable reform." thehill.com |
| 2017.03.14 | The Trump Administration warns that it intends to cut current U.S. contributions to the United Nations ($10 billion annually budgeted through the State Department) by more than 50 percent. washingtonpost.com |
| 2017.03.15 | In a letter to several major nonprofits dated March 8, 2017, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the United States will not continue participating in the Human Rights Council unless the U.N. rights agency undergoes "considerable reform." bigstory.ap.org (See also Rex Tillerson) |
| 2017.03.16 | The U.S. delegation to the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women assembled by Ambassador Nikki Haley includes the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam), a group that supports the criminalization of homosexuality. hrw.org (See also Nikki Haley, Homophobia, LGBTQIA) |
| 2017.03.17 | Nikki Haley and other world leaders condemn a report issued by the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia claiming that Israel is imposing an apartheid regime on Palestinians. The report is pulled and Under-Secretary General Rima Khalaf resigns. reuters.com (See also Nikki Haley, Israel) |
| 2017.03.27 | The U.S., Britain and France are among almost forty countries that will not join talks on a nuclear weapons ban treaty starting at the U.N. on Monday. Ambassador Nikki Haley says the U.S. is committed to non-proliferation rather than total ban. reuters.com (See also Nuclear Weapons) |
| 2017.03.29 | Nikki Haley describes the U.S. as the “moral conscience” of the world, calls the U.N. Human Rights Council “so corrupt” without offering evidence, and says the U.S. would never close its doors to foreigners who flee persecution, even as she defended Trump’s Muslim Ban. nytimes.com (See also Nikki Haley, Muslim Immigration Ban) |
| 2017.03.29 | U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley says Syria's President Bashar al-Assad is a "big hindrance in trying to move forward" to find an end to the country's six-year conflict; "the U.S. and Russia could definitely talk." reuters.com (See also Syria, Nikki Haley) |
| 2017.03.30 | Nikki Haley and Rex Tillerson say the U.S. diplomatic policy on Syria is no longer focused on making the war-torn country's president, Bashar al-Assad, leave power. This puts the Trump administration at odds with European powers. reuters.com (See also Syria, Nikki Haley, Rex Tillerson) |
| 2017.04.04 | Trump is ending U.S. funding for the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), the international body's agency focused on family planning as well as maternal and child health in more than 150 countries. aljazeera.com |
| 2017.04.05 | Following chemical weapons attack in Idilb, Syria, Nikki Haley suggests the U.S. will act in Syria if the U.N. does not. usun.state.gov (See also Syria) |
| 2017.12.10 | Nikki R. Haley, the American ambassador to the United Nations, said on Sunday that women who have accused President Trump of sexual misconduct “should be heard." nytimes.com (See also Women, Misogyny, Legal Issues, Nikki Haley) |
| 2018.06.14 | Talks with the United States over how to reform the main U.N. rights body have failed to meet Washington’s demands, activists and diplomats say, suggesting that the Trump administration will quit the Geneva UN Rights Forum. reuters.com (See also Foreign Policy, Reversals, Nikki Haley) |
| 2018.06.18 | The United Nations’ top human rights official entered the mounting furor over the Trump administration’s policy of separating undocumented immigrant children from their parents, calling for an immediate halt to a practice he condemned as abuse. nytimes.com (See also Unprecedented Actions, Immigration) |
| 2018.06.19 | The US formally announced its withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council. buzzfeed.com (See also Nikki Haley, Mike Pompeo, Reversals) |
| H.R.193 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2017 congress.gov |
Analysis
Trump expresses disdain for the United Nations and its work around the world. His focus, as expressed in his Inaugural Address, is on the U.S.: " From this day forward, it's going to be only America first—America first." (Source: Transcript of Inaugural Address at NPR.org). Some interpret this phrase, often repeated during the campaign, as a push for nationalism rather than global engagement. In a nod to international partners, Trump added: "We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world. But we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first." (Source: Transcript of Inaugural Address at NPR.org).
Assessments
In opinion piece in U.S. News and World Report, Vesselin Popovski discusses fundamental conflicts between the U.N. and Trump:
The new American president's isolationism and protectionism goes against everything that the U.N. is about: openness, free trade, international cooperation. Some of Trump's statements – that torture works, that refugees should be denied entry, that Muslims should be subject to extreme vetting – contradict principles globally accepted by the United Nations 70 years ago.
He also suggests ways in which the U.N. might be able to adapt to Trump:
To avoid confrontation and seek constructive cooperation, Guterres could pursue issues of mutual concern, for example peacekeeping, combating drug trafficking and human trafficking...He should also try to properly frame critical issues in ways that resonate with reasonable people in Trump administration.