The U.S. president said he is a ‘big fan’ of the U.N., but the international body ‘has never lived up to its potential.’
President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 said the Board of Peace he has prepared as part of his Gaza peace process could end up replacing the United Nations.
“I wish the United Nations could do more. I wish we didn’t need a Board of Peace, but … with all the wars I settled, the United Nations never helped me on one war,” Trump said during a White House press briefing on Jan. 20.
When a reporter asked the president whether the Board of Peace could replace the U.N., he replied, “It might.”
“The U.N. just hasn’t been very helpful. I’m a big fan of the U.N. potential, but it has never lived up to its potential,” he said.
Trump, who has taken credit for resolving eight armed conflicts around the world in the first year of his second White House term, has criticized the U.N. for not having done more to resolve those conflicts, which include those between Israel and Hamas, India and Pakistan, and Cambodia and Thailand.
Despite criticizing the U.N., Trump didn’t call for the dissolution of the international body.
“I believe you’ve got to let the U.N. continue, because the potential is so great,” he said.
The White House on Jan. 16 named several members of the Trump administration, as well as international leaders, to positions within the Board of Peace, which aims to provide strategic insight, mobilize international resources, and ensure accountability during Gaza’s transition and reconstruction.
Trump is expected to formally release the charter for the Board of Peace during his visit to Davos, Switzerland, this week.
While addressing an assembly of French academics on Jan. 19, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the proposed charter for the Board of Peace appears to describe “broad powers.”
“We are far, very far, from the United Nations charter,” he said.
Earlier on Jan. 20, Trump threatened to impose a 200 percent tariff on French wine if France rejects his invitation to join the Board of Peace.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair are among those tapped to serve on an executive board for the Board of Peace. Others on the executive board are private equity executive Marc Rowan, World Bank Group President Ajay Banga, and U.S. deputy national security adviser Robert Gabriel.
By Ryan Morgan
