As the host country to the UN headquarters during the Covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. has a unique opportunity to take center stage in an organization that Trump has consistently mocked and has sometimes returned the favor.
Other world leaders have openly laughed at his speeches and witnessed awkward moments, from Trump announcing to leaders that he could “totally destroy” North Korea, to a dispute with teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg.
However, the UN relies on US money to continue many of its operations: The United States provides 22 percent of the agency’s regular funding, annually. Trump recently made waves as he formally began the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization, the UN health agency, criticizing his Covid-19 response and calling it a Chinese spokesman. The United States is one of 88 countries that has yet to pay its 2020 UN dues in full.
Craft said the United States’ priorities during the 2020 General Assembly would be “human rights and transparency” and that, in the absence of world leaders, hundreds of UNGA side events will move online or take place later in 2020.
President of the UN General Assembly Tijjani Muhammad-Bande and UN Secretary-General António Guterres have been “extremely careful in mitigating this virus within the UN system,” Craft said.
Craft has been taking his diplomacy beyond the confines of the UN Security Council, the highest-level UN decision-making body in which the United States has a permanent seat, during the Covid-19 pandemic. “Since we have taken refuge on the spot, I took advantage of that time to start calling 185 of the ambassadors, just to check on the people,” Craft said. Craft’s advisers originally wanted him to go on his speed dating diplomacy tour during the first few weeks of his tenure in mid-2019.
Craft said ambassadors from smaller countries were “shocked” to receive his call, but said they were “very responsive”, helping to create “a special bond” that the United States would find useful in its efforts to reform the UN.
