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Trump: 'America First' against globalization

On his first day in office, the president signed several decrees to prioritize the country's interests over orders issued from the UN or the WHO.

Guterres, Trump y GhebreyesusVOZ/Cordon Press.

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Barely a few hours had passed since his swearing in when the president grabbed the helm and began to take the course he set during the election campaign. Donald Trump signed a battery of executive orders during his first day in office to put "the United States and its citizens first."

Many of those executive orders are domestic - such as pardons for January 6 protesters or declaring a national emergency at the border in the face of the immigration crisis, among others. But others are aimed at modifying the country's role abroad or, directly, at eliminating its track of supranational organizations and international treaties, making it clear that its objective is to protect and prioritize national interests over global ones.

Exit from the "very unfair" Paris Agreement

First, Trump initiated the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement -a process expected to take approximately a year-. A decision that he already executed during his first term, until Joe Biden ordered the country's re-entry into the treaty. Because the president considers this climate pact - signed in 2015 during the COP21 organized by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and which adopted many of the principles of the Kyoto Protocol - as "very unfair" and which has a clear underlying motive: "Killing the US economy."

Trump has reported that he will send a letter to the secretary general of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, through his ambassador to the organization - which, foreseeably, will be Elise Stefanik- to confirm the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement -and its non-presence in any future treaty- and the reasons that lead the Government to take this decision, communicating, in addition, that it revokes any financial commitment with the body on climate issues. "The U.S. International Climate Finance Plan is revoked and rescinded immediately," the president stated.

The UN itself has already reacted. While Guterres was not yet explicit in his opinion on the departure of the United States, the organization boasts of the alleged benefits granted by the climate treaty. "The Paris Agreement has unleashed an energy revolution that offers opportunities for countries & businesses to invest in renewables that power jobs and prosperity."

The European Union (EU) also spoke out. During the World Economic Forum, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission (EC), defended the Paris Agreement tooth and nail as "the humanity’s best hope" to tackle "the growing burden of climate change." So did the Chinese government, which asserted that climate change "is a common challenge."

For Trump, the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement is an important move to achieve his main goal: prioritizing from now on "economic efficiency, the promotion of American prosperity, consumer choice and fiscal restraint in all foreign engagements that concern energy policy."

UN meddles in the suspension of asylum access

On the sidelines of the Paris Agreement, the UN weighed in on Trump's signed order to suspend alder access to illegal immigrants in order to prioritize the defense of national security and Americans.

​In statements picked up by AFP, Ravina Shamdasani, UN commissioner for human rights, said Trump will have to abide by the fact that the right to asylum is "universally recognized." "All states have the right to exercise jurisdiction at their international borders, but they must do so in accordance with their human rights obligations," she said.

Withdrawal from WHO for "mishandling" health crises and "unfair" funding

Despite withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, Trump has not decided to withdraw from the UN. The institution that will indeed leave the United States under the new administration is the World Health Organization (WHO).

During his first term, the president issued an executive order to let the country leave the WHO, but Biden made the decision to revoke that decree. With his return to the White House, Trump has again announced the U.S. withdrawal from the organization led by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, accusing it of "mishandling" health crises - such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states," the president argued.

Another reason that has led Trump to withdraw WHO is the "unfair" funding the organization receives from the United States, knowing that it is its biggest patron and that the amount of money the country contributes - in the 2022/2023 period, directed $1.284 billion, almost $400 million more than Germany and "90% more than China" - is "disproportionate" to that given by other nations.

The Trump Administration further reported that it "will cease negotiations on the WHO Pandemic Agreement and the amendments to the International Health Regulations, and actions taken to effectuate such agreement and amendments will have no binding force on the United States."

WHO plays "crucial role" in Americans' health

As soon as the news broke, Ghebreyesus issued a short statement in which he implored the Trump Administration to "reconsider" its decision, assuring that WHO plays "a crucial role"in "the protection and safety of Americans."

"WHO plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans, by addressing the root causes of disease, building stronger health systems, and detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often in dangerous places where others cannot go. We hope the United States will reconsider its decision," the organization said.

Despite his full-throated defense of WHO, what Ghebreyesus does not talk about is the "role" the organization played during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was under the spotlight for its handling of a health crisis that killed millions of people worldwide.

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