Trump Administration Looks to Reduce U.S. Presence at U.N.

The U.S. is reportedly considering scaling back its presence at the United Nations General Assembly next month, with aides to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson reportedly telling diplomats that the U.S. will have a “toe-print, not a footprint” at the gathering.

Politico reports that the administration wants to reduce the delegation to U.N. headquarters as part of Tillerson’s push to reduce to State Department’s bloated budget, as well as to send a signal about Trump’s intent to scale back America’s commitments abroad.

The Trump administration has taken an often-adversarial approach to the U.N., with Ambassador Nikki Haley repeatedly criticizing the international body on areas in which the administration believes needs improvement. In particular, Haley has zoned in on the body’s anti-Israel bias, as well as long-standing U.S. grievances such as the membership of the controversial Human Rights Council – of which Venezuela, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia are all current members.

Additionally, the administration has floated significant budget cuts to U.S. contributions to the U.N.’s budget, proposals that Haley said have sent “shock waves” through the U.N..

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