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Will the United Nations survive Trump 2.0?
Actions by the US show that the Trump administration is not merely unhappy with certain international institutions. Rather, it is fundamentally opposed to any multilateral framework that even suggests equality among countries.
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People walk past the United Nations headquarters in New York on March 3, 2023. (AFP/Daniel Slim)
O
f all the geopolitical stunts Donald Trump has pulled since returning to the White House, the United States’ votes at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on March 4 stand out as some of the most revealing.
First, the US opposed a seemingly innocuous resolution establishing an “International Day of Peaceful Coexistence” and reaffirming the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Despite its symbolic nature, the US voted against the resolution, with representative Edward Heartney explaining that the US “rejects and denounces the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, and it will no longer reaffirm them as a matter of course.”
“Simply put,” he added, “globalist endeavors like Agenda 2030 and the SDGs lost at the ballot box.” Despite US opposition, the resolution ultimately passed with 162 countries voting in favor, two abstaining and only three, the US, Israel, and Argentina, voting against.
Later that day, the US doubled down by opposing UNGA resolutions calling for the establishment of an “International Day of Hope” and an “International Day for Judicial Well-Being.”
It was also the sole vote against a resolution reaffirming “the right of everyone to education,” which highlighted “the importance of equal opportunities for young people, including young women,” likely because it conflicted with a pillar of the Trump administration’s domestic agenda: dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
These moves may well foreshadow America’s withdrawal from the UN, something Elon Musk and other Trump supporters have urged.
