Written by Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations has been planning for the return of Donald Trump and cuts to US funding and cooperation with the world body that could come with his second term as president.
There was a sense of “déjà vu and some trepidation” in the 193-member world body, one Asia official said, as Republican Trump won Tuesday’s US election by defeating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
“There is also hope that the transactional administration will negotiate with the UN in other areas even if it will issue other documents. After all, what is the biggest and better world stage than the United Nations?” Said the lawyer who did not want to be named.
A US retreat from the UN could open the door for China, which has been building its influence in global communications.
Trump has offered few details on foreign policy in his second term but his supporters say his strong personality and his “peace with power” approach will help foreign leaders do his bidding. He vowed to resolve the war in Ukraine and is expected to provide strong support to Israel in its conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah in Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Among the main concerns of the UN is whether the United States will decide to give less money to the world and withdraw from important international institutions and agreements, including the World Heath Organization and the Paris climate agreement.
US funding is an immediate problem. Washington holds the largest share in the UN – China is in second place – accounting for 22% of the UN’s core budget and 27% of the peacekeeping budget.
A country can afford to pay for two years before it faces the prospect of losing its General Assembly vote.
‘TOO HARD’
Trump last came to power proposing to cut a third of the US aid budget, including major cuts to funding for UN peacekeeping and international organizations. But Congress, which sets the US government’s budget, has rejected Trump’s proposal.
A UN spokesman said at the time that the proposed cuts would make it difficult to continue all essential work.
“The UN Secretariat knows it can face Trump’s return for a year. There has been clever planning behind the scenes on how to manage the US budget cuts,” said Richard Gowan, UN director of the International Crisis Group.
“So (UN Secretary-General Antonio) Guterres and his team are not ready at all, but they know that the next year will be very difficult,” he said.
Trump’s team did not immediately respond to a question about his policy at the UN after taking office in January.
During his first term, Trump complained that the US was burdened with UN costs and demanded reforms. Washington is traditionally slow to pay and when Trump leaves office in 2021 the US still owes about $600 million in the main budget and $2 billion in peacekeeping.
According to UN figures, President Joe Biden’s administration currently owes $995 million to the UN’s core budget and $862 million to the peacekeeping budget.
“I don’t want to say in advance or talk about goals that may or may not happen, but we are working with member countries the way we always work with member countries,” Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Wednesday.
In 2026, the UN Security Council will elect a successor to Guterres, a decision over which the Trump administration will hold veto power.
‘GOOD NEWS FROM CHINA’
During Trump’s first term, he was critical of the United Nations and wary of international cooperation. He announced plans to leave the World Health Organization, and withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council, the UN cultural organization UNESCO, the global climate change agreement and the Iran nuclear deal.
When Biden took office in 2021, he reversed the US decision to withdraw from the WHO and returned the US to UNESCO and the climate agreement. Trump’s campaign has said he will withdraw from the climate accord if he wins office.
“It will survive. However, it will probably survive a heavy downgrade,” Guterres told Reuters in September of Trump’s second withdrawal from the climate accord.
Before the US election, a European diplomatic official said Trump’s victory would be “good news for China,” recalling that during Trump’s first term, “Chinese influence in the UN increased dramatically because it was an open space for China.”
The diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said if Trump again cuts UN funding and withdraws from international agreements “it will give China an opportunity to present itself as the first supporter of multilateralism.”
US funding of other UN agencies is also being questioned. One of the first steps taken by the Trump administration in 2017 was to cut funding to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), an international organization focused on family planning and maternal and child health in more than 150 countries.
The Trump administration says UNFPA “supports … a program of forced abortion or spontaneous sterilization.” The UN said that was a wrong idea. Biden restored US funding for UNFPA.
If Trump cuts funding again, UNFPA warned that “women will lose life-saving services in some of the world’s most devastating crises” in places like Afghanistan, Sudan and Ukraine.
Under Trump’s first presidency, the US also objected to long-agreed international language on women’s sexual and reproductive rights and health in UN resolutions over concerns it would advance abortion rights.
An African diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, summed up Trump’s impending return to multilateralism and the United Nations: “Heavens help us.”
