President’s disdain for international order has left agreements in tatters, prompted withdrawal from UN bodies
President Donald Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the international order, pledging before entering office to upend multilateral accords and recalibrate U.S. participation in the UN.
He has made good on one of his most central vows: to scrap the nuclear accord world powers struck with Iran in 2015, roiling close transatlantic allies in the process.
Trump’s actions, emboldened by close aide John Bolton, have inched the U.S. closer to confrontation with Tehran while at the same time increasing the likelihood of Washington sanctioning European allies who are working to salvage the deal and its curbs on Iran’s nuclear program.
Economically, Trump has unilaterally removed Washington from one of the world’s largest free trade pacts and vowed to scrap another if it cannot be renegotiated.
The president has further slashed U.S. funding for the UN by $285 million following a vote that condemned his unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and has removed the U.S. from two major UN bodies and is working to undermine another.
Here is a list of major international agreements the American president has nixed or threatened to remove Washington from, the countries that were affected, and key UN bodies the U.S. has taken umbrage with.
The Trans Pacific Partnership – The now defunct free trade agreement among Pacific Rim countries that was abandoned after the U.S. withdrew; 11 remaining countries formed a new trade agreement after the U.S. decision.
Shortly after Trump signed off on the order, leading Republican Senator John McCain slammed the decision as “a troubling signal of American disengagement in the Asia-Pacific region at a time we can least afford it".
“President Trump’s decision to formally withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a serious mistake that will have lasting consequences for America’s economy and our strategic position in the Asia-Pacific region," McCain said.
Paris Climate Agreement – Historic effort to combat climate change; U.S. cannot exit until November 2020 under the terms of the pact despite Trump's efforts.
Former President Barack Obama, who spearheaded the Paris effort, slammed his successor's decision, saying the countries still within the agreement will "reap the benefits in jobs and industries created.
"Even in the absence of American leadership, even as this Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future, I’m confident that our states, cities and businesses will step up and do even more to lead the way and help protect for future generations the one planet we’ve got," he said.
North American Free Trade Agreement – Free trade agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico that has been in effect since 1994. Trump has threatened to scrap it if it cannot be renegotiated; talks ongoing as Canada and Mexico reject separate individual pacts with U.S.
“Canada very much believes in NAFTA as a trilateral agreement,” Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said. “It has been in place for near a quarter century.”
The agreement has allowed the three countries to integrate trading and supply chains that have benefited all involved, she said.
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action - Nuclear deal brokered by P5 1 group of world powers and Iran in 2015 giving Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for intensive inspection regime.
Countries affected (directly): Iran, Germany, Russia, China, France, the UK and the EU; global trade also impacted.
Following re-imposition of first round of pre-deal nuclear sanctions, the EU vowed to protect Europeans doing business with Iran.
"We are determined to protect European economic operators engaged in legitimate business with Iran, in accordance with EU law and with UN Security Council Resolution 2231," the bloc said
Cuba detente – Effort to restore relations between Cold War rivals begun under President Barack Obama; Trump has curbed travel to island nation, as well as commerce.
The tighter U.S. regulations were met with criticism by Senator Patrick Leahy, who said they are "what one would expect of a paranoid totalitarian government, not a democracy like ours”.
“The hypocrisy of the White House ideologues is glaring. It is stunning," the Democratic senator said in a statement. “Far from promoting human rights in Cuba, these new regulations will hurt fledgling entrepreneurs and the rest of the Cuban people by discouraging Americans from traveling there.”
US participation in UNHRC – Trump pulled the U.S. out of the UN’s Geneva-based human rights body in June, in part because of the council's criticism of Israel.
Following the U.S. exit, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov urged the U.S. to return to the Human Rights Council.
"We of course would much prefer the U.S. to remain in the Human Rights Council. And I believe that the human rights architecture is a key tool at the present moment in order to promote and protect human rights around the world," Guterres said.
US participation in UNESCO – The U.S. announced it was exiting the UN’s world heritage organization in October 2017, citing alleged Israel bias.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova expressed "profound regret" about Washington's action, saying despite the decision to withhold funding, the U.S.-UNESCO relationship has continued to strengthen.
"At the time when the fight against violent extremism calls for renewed investment in education, in dialogue among cultures to prevent hatred, it is deeply regrettable that the United States should withdraw from the United Nations agency leading these issues," Bokova said.
US funding for UNRWA – The Trump administration halved an installment payment to the UN’s Palestine refugee agency in January, giving only $60 million of a planned $125 million. Senior Trump officials are working to dismantle the agency altogether as legislation winds its way through Congress.
A senior western official warned that one of two pieces of legislation seeking to shift UNRWA’s activities to the UN’s main refugee agency (UNHCR) could undermine Washington’s objectives.
“Be very careful what you wish for, because for UNHCR, the preferred priority or choice would be for refugees to go back home, which is not something I suppose these American congresspeople would want,” the diplomat told Anadolu Agency, referring to the right of return, which Israel and its allies in Washington reject outright.
