In a short speech at the UN this morning Trump called for the UN to reform itself with Nikki Haley at his side, suggesting that the US and other countries aren’t getting good results for our investments.
Here’s the full speech:
.@POTUS at @UN Reform Event: We must ensure that no one & no member state shoulders a disproportionate share of the burden. #UNGA #USAatUNGA pic.twitter.com/zAoIeR32QZ
— Department of State (@StateDept) September 18, 2017
Here’s more from ABC News:
President Donald Trump is pressing the need for reform at the United Nations as he makes his debut address to a session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
He is applauding efforts by the secretary general to reform the organization “so that it better serves the people we all represent.”
Trump adds that the U.N. “has not reached its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement.”
He says the group spends too much money and has too many staffers, and declares: “We are not seeing results in line with this investment.”
He also says no member state should shoulder a disproportionate share of the cost.
Trump’s first appearance before the organization is at a U.S.-sponsored event on reforming the 193-member organization.
It was less than a year ago that the UN adopted an anti-Israel resolution that Obama and Kerry helped push through that I was hoping would lead to a complete defunding of the UN. That never came to be.
But even so, the UN could still use major reform and if we can effect that reform by using our own substantial contributions as leverage, then it will be a good thing. However I’m not holding out any hope for substantial change at the UN. I still believe defunding it would be a far better course of action.