Former US national security advisor to push MAGA agenda at the UN

Former National Security Advisor Mike Waltz waits for the start of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be ambassador to the United Nations (UN). EPA/JIM LO SCALZO

Mike Waltz is expected to be the new the US ambassador to the UN. On his agenda: pressuring member states to align with US foreign policy and countering China.

If confirmed, Mike Waltz, United States President Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, vowed to drive big change in New York by taking a “block and tackle” approach to curb China’s influence while working to reform the UN, a multilateral body with “potential” that after 80 years has become bureaucratically “bloated” and “drifted from its core mission of peacemaking.”

I am confident we can make the UN great again,” Waltz said during his hearing. “There is some goodness to be done.”

On July 15, Waltz, 51, an accomplished US Army Green Beret, former policy advisor in the Bush administration, and a Republican member of Congress from his home state of Florida, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee seeking confirmation. The committee is a group within the US government that oversees foreign policy matters.

President Trump announced his nomination for the ambassadorship on May 1, after Waltz, who was also Trump’s short-lived national security advisor, made headlines for inadvertently adding a US journalist to a group chat on the messaging app Signal that included highly sensitive details about a military strike in Yemen. The self-described “ultra-MAGA” loyalist, Elise Stefanik – a Republican from rural upstate New York – was Trump’s initial pick for the ambassador role, but he withdrew her nomination to make room for Waltz.

During his hearing, Waltz was pressed by members of the committee about the controversial Signal chat. Tim Kaine, a  Democrat senator from the US state of Virginia, called the slip-up “amateurish.”

If approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,  Waltz’s nomination then moves to the US Senate for a vote. It is still unclear whether the ambassadorship includes a seat on Trump’s cabinet.

No date has been set for the approval but it’s expected this week.

If confirmed,  it is likely that Waltz, who “seems a bit more malleable to Trump’s wishes,” will do the President’s “bidding” at the UN said Rasmus Sondergaard, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies in Copenhagen, Denmark. Although Waltz was Trump’s national security advisor for a brief time, “he’s not someone, I think, who’s bringing a whole lot to the table in this role,” Sondergaard added, “but he says all the things that Trump likes to hear.”

Blatantly transactional

As the Trump administration continues to evaluate whether every US taxpayer dollar that goes to the UN serves America’s interests, Waltz raised eyebrows during his hearing when he agreed with a Republican senator who suggested making US foreign aid contingent upon voting patterns at the UN.

“It absolutely should be,” Waltz said, referring to aid funnelled to African countries through the UN as an example. “I’ve seen over 100 billion dollars have gone through UN entities into Africa, and we’re looking at between a 29 and 32% voting coincidence rate,” he said without citing a source.

A voting coincidence rate refers to the likelihood a member state to vote a certain way, in this context it applies to member states voting with or against the US.

“So, we actually have the continent with the highest recipient of American workers’ money siding with us by far, the least.” Waltz vowed to use this leverage, hinging aid money against voting outcomes to reverse that trend.

“From the hearing, it’s pretty clear that [Waltz is] going to approach the UN in a very transactional manner, just like his boss,” Sondergaard told Swissinfo. “To expect there to be a direct correlation between countries receiving US foreign aid and then them voting along with the United States on a range of issuesis blatantly transactional.”

So far, Trump’s transactional approach to foreign affairs, whether within or beyond the halls of the UN, complements his general disdain for multilateral organisations or ideas of global cooperation that do not cater to his “America First” agenda. In his 2018 speechExternal link to the UN General Assembly, during his first term in office, Trump referred to “responsible nations” that must defend their sovereignty from “global governance”. He added, “We will never surrender America’s sovereignty to an unelected, unaccountable, global bureaucracy.”

The US is easily the UN’s largest funder, contributing 22% in assessed contributions to the regular budget, according to Congress.govExternal link, which are mandatory payments made by member states based on their gross domestic income and other factors. The remainder of the UN’s financing consists of voluntary contributions.

Block and tackle

Likely using a reference to American football, Waltz said he would take a “block and tackle” approach to curbing the Chinese Communist Party’s influence at the UN, a concern that both Republicans and Democrats raised at the hearing as the Trump administration has slashed funding to the UN, stepped backExternal link from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and halted participation in the Human Rights Council, and the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Courtney J. Fung, an associate professor of security studies at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia told Swissinfo in an email that while Waltz made clear his focus on countering China’s growing influence in the UN system,  “he will have his work cut out for him” as “Trump’s departure and defunding of key UN agencies cedes US influence, literally knee-capping US opportunities for leverage.

Most Senators noted additional concern for China’s perceived growing influence in some specialised UN agencies, including the International Telecommunication UnionExternal link (ITU), responsible for issues related to information and communication technologies and the World Intellectual Property OrganisationExternal link (WIPO), a global forum that protects and promotes intellectual property.

In their remarks, the concerned senators did not provide proof or detailed explanations of China’s growing influence in either the ITU or WIPO.

However, Chris Coons, a Senator from Delaware mentioned the Chinese sending “their largest delegation” to a WHO meeting after Trump withdrew from the agency and claimed that China is now the biggest contributor to the WHO without evidence.

Additionally, Democrat senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, a state in northeastern US, did refer to a general report on China’s growing influence at the expense of the United States published by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee minority but did not provide details.

In his remarks, Waltz referred to the Chinese Communist Party’s behaviour as “malicious” while also noting that the relationship between the US and China has potential. 

On Israel, Waltz took a less aggressive stance than former nominee Elise Stefanik but noted the US government’s concern about “pervasive” anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias at the UN.

Waltz also mentioned the Secretary General António Guterres’s “UN 80” initiative, a plan to reform and improving efficiencies at the UN. “I do not think Secretary General Guterres would have his “UN80″ plan already on the table if he didn’t take President Trump very seriously,” he said.

The nitty gritty

On Waltz’s nomination, Judith Vorrath, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs based in Berlin, Germany, suggests that there is more to come in the context of President Trump withdrawing funding and halting US participation with certain UN entities that do not align with his America First agenda. Vorrath suggests the relationship will likely depend on how the administration approaches its role.

Regarding Waltz’s impact at the UN, Vorrath told Swissinfo it will depend on “how long or short the leash from DC to New York is” and how he interacts with the “experienced” staff already posted at the US mission. 

“Will he be listening to them? Will he be using them? Or will he simply say, whatever we do, it doesn’t really matter to get deeply involved in UN affairs, because this is the nitty gritty stuff we don’t really care about,” added Vorrath. “We just care about the big topics, and questions.”

Edited by Virginie Mangin/ac