Trump’s first address to the UN indicates the need of a new start as the “ways of the past” are “not working.”
Trump Takes Agenda of Change to the United Nations
By Farnaz Fassihi and Eli Stokols
UNITED NATIONS—President Donald Trump called on the United Nations to “focus more on people and less on bureaucracy,” in comments during a meeting of international officials as the annual General Assembly gathering got under way.
Mr. Trump reiterated his campaign criticism that the U.N. wasn’t living up to its potential, but did so in softer terms than he previously has used, sticking with his prepared remarks about the need to reduce bureaucracy and curb mismanagement.
The “ways of the past,” he said, are “not working.”
The president thanked U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who sat beside him, for his openness to changes in U.N. structure and operations. And he said the cost burdens of supporting the institution, which Mr. Trump has argued fall too heavily on the U.S., must be more equally distributed.
“We must ensure that no one and no member state shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden, and that’s militarily and financially,” Mr. Trump said.
The U.S.-hosted event lasted less than an hour and attendees, senior officials from over 100 countries, didn’t interact much with Mr. Trump or offer input on the agenda. Messrs. Trump and Guterres and U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley each delivered short remarks.
The president’s comments came a day before his highly anticipated official speech at the General Assembly, where Mr.Trump is expected to address broader policy themes including terrorism, the standoff with North Korea and the future of the Iran nuclear deal.
On Monday Mr. Trump scheduled meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and French President Emmanuel Macron, and diplomats said North Korea and Iran were at the top of the agenda. Mr. Trump also planned a dinner for Latin American leaders, with the political and economic crisis in Venezuela a chief topic.
While Messrs. Guterres and Trump are at odds about issues including the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate accord, they appear to share a common view on the need to make the U.N. more effective and influential, diplomats said. Mr. Trump, who repeatedly has expressed his skepticism about international organizations such as the U.N. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, last year said the U.N. is “not a friend of democracy” and “not a friend of freedom.”
Mr. Guterres on Monday acknowledged that U.N. needs to do away with rules and procedures he said undermine the organization and expressed gratitude to Mr. Trump for supporting the efforts. “Value for money while advancing shared values—that is our common goal,” Mr. Guterres said.
Mr. Guterres said last week that he has two priorities for the overhaul: establishment of an advisory board on mediation to work toward conflict prevention and improving gender parity at the U.N.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, left, chats with President Donald Trump during Monday’s meeting.Photo: JUSTIN LANE/EPA/Shutterstock
The U.S. and other critics say the organization’s archaic bureaucracy and management style hinder its operations, from humanitarian assistance to day-to-day field and office functions. The U.S. has also complained about the U.N.’s costs, arguing some of its work within various organizations overlaps.
“All the efforts I’ve been making until now are in the direction of trying to create conditions for the relationship between the United States and the United Nations to be a constructive relationship,” Mr. Guterres said.
Ms. Haley has indicated that continued U.S. financial donations and engagement in areas such as peacekeeping and human rights would be contingent on reviews and changes. Ms. Haley praised the U.S.’s success in the effort by pointing out 128 countries had signed on to the U.S.-drafted declaration of reform, saying, “We must make it a new day at the U.N.”
Along with Mr. Trump, Ms. Haley stands to be under the spotlight this week at her first General Assembly as U.S. ambassador. She has emerged as an influential voice in the Trump administration and largely has been credited by diplomats and U.N. officials for persuading Mr. Trump to not marginalize the U.N. in his administration and to remain engaged.
Ms. Haley often has been the first to voice Washington’s policies on global issues including Syria’s war, North Korea and Iran, frequently overshadowing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Many diplomats and U.N. officials have said they look to her for clarity on foreign-policy issues when messages from Washington appear unclear or contradictory.
“She is a very influential voice in the administration,” one Security Council diplomat said, adding that during negotiations over tougher sanctions on North Korea, Ms. Haley projected the perception that she was driving North Korea policy.
On the subject of institutional change at the U.N., Ms. Haley helped draft Washington’s 10-point “U.N. Reform Declaration” document and asked member states to sign it to attend Monday’s event with Mr. Trump, diplomats said.
The U.S. is the world’s top financial contributor to the U.N., donating 28.5% of the $7.3 billion peacekeeping budget and 22% of its core budget of $5.4 billion. The U.S. is conducting a mission-by-mission review of the U.N.’s 15 peacekeeping operations and lobbied to slash $600 million this year from the peacekeeping budget.
The Reform Declaration, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, combines the U.S.’s agenda for change—including a commitment to reduce redundancy within U.N. organizations—with Mr. Guterres’s vision for management and bureaucratic overhauls.
In the declaration, countries to reducing “duplication, redundancy, and overlap including among the main organs of the United Nations.” The signatories encourage Mr. Guterres to “pursue impactful and field-centric management reforms,” the document said.
Mr. Guterres, who took the U.N. helm in January, was selected for the top job after campaigning on a platform to modernize the organization.
Some diplomats and U.N. officials said they saw Monday’s event as an encouraging sign that the U.S. wasn’t abandoning the world body, as initially feared when Mr. Trump took office and called the U.N. a “club” that wasn’t performing to its full potential.
“Our responsibility is to defend the framework for action and the rules that have been enacted collectively; we commit ourselves to reinforcing the U.N. mechanism,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters Monday morning.
Other diplomats said Monday’s event reflected the view of one member state, and demonstrated the U.S. effort to exert control over the process.
—Emre Peker
contributed to this article.
Write to Farnaz Fassihi at farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com and Eli Stokols at eli.stokols@wsj.com
