Ahead of President Trump’s remarks tomorrow at the UNGA81 High Level Debate, Oxfam America's President and CEO Abby Maxman said:
“President Trump returns to address a United Nations that is facing extreme pressure, in large part due to his administration’s acts of aggression, funding cuts and attacks on its critical work.
“The Trump administration’s sweeping, cruel cuts to humanitarian and development aid have forced UN agencies to make impossible choices about which communities facing deadly hunger, disease and poverty will receive lifesaving aid. Even recent US payments leave billions unpaid and amount to a fraction of what the US once contributed to the UN – or to what this administration is currently spending on waging war.
“As leaders gather to discuss the most pressing global challenges, including peace and security, President Trump comes to the UN expected to defend the indefensible: a string of illegal and deadly operations abroad including the attacks on Venezuela and Iran and extrajudicial killings in Latin America that have caused catastrophic global ripple effects and thrown international law and order into further doubt. His administration continues to roll back climate and gender policies and protections that put our collective solutions and rights further out of reach.
“Even as he claims the mantle of 'peace president' and 'dealmaker,' President Trump’s approach to international relations has relied on the unlawful use of force, making outlandish claims on others’ sovereign territory, and an approach to conflict resolution that prioritizes the capture of natural resources at the expense of sustainable peace for people experiencing war.
“No matter what spin President Trump tries to give in his remarks, his audience in the UN and around the world is feeling the undeniable, painful impacts of his erratic and dangerous foreign policy every day.
“President Trump is at odds with some of the US’s closest allies on key issues as they convene. Among the starkest: the Trump administration's announcement of yet another massive sale to Israel of the same bombs it has used to catastrophic effect in its genocide in Gaza. This comes just as a growing number of nations announced coordinated restrictive measures targeting illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank in response to escalating state-sponsored settler violence. The Trump administration is also still supposed to be shepherding the Gaza ceasefire that after nearly one year is still failing to deliver real peace and security to Palestinians, with Israel killing nearly 1400 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire was announced last October.
“With the election of a new Secretary-General on the horizon, now is the time for the United States to recommit to the United Nations – by paying the US’s fair share and by acting as a true partner to address the issues of inequality, poverty, insecurity that can only be tackled together.”
/ENDS