UN sees tougher US relationship without Haley as envoy

Bloomberg

United Nations diplomats surprised by how they managed to cope with President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda are worried that things are only going to get tougher in 2019.
It’s not State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert — Trump’s pick to replace departing Ambassador Nikki Haley — who’s raising concerns. It’s her boss, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, and National Security Adviser John Bolton, both of whom are expected to have more sway over Nauert than they did over Haley, the former South Carolina governor who reported directly to the president.
Stoking those concerns are Pompeo’s recent comments questioning the value of the UN, Bolton’s skepticism of the organisation’s work dating back to his days as the UN envoy for President George W. Bush, and Trump’s decision to downgrade the role of the next ambassador from Cabinet-level status.
“Unlike Haley, I don’t think Nauert will be her own person,” said Stephen Stedman, an international relations professor at Stanford University who’s worked for the UN.
“Other missions will correctly perceive her as having little independent weight.”
Trump’s first two years haven’t been easy for the global body: the US has worked to lower the organisation’s spending, pulled out of the UN-sanctioned Iran nuclear deal, cut off funding for an agency supporting Palestinian refugees, withdrawn from the Human Rights Council, and worked to undermine the Paris climate change accord.
Still, Haley forged a strong relationship with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, finding ways to dovetail Trump’s demands for UN spending cuts with Guterres’ efforts to trim ineffective and expensive peacekeeping programmes.
And at a time when Trump was seen as equivocating on how hard to criticise Russia, Haley was outspoken in attacking Moscow over its role in Syria, Ukraine, the poisoning of a former spy in the UK, and meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. By stepping into a downgraded position, Nauert may struggle to achieve similar success.
A Western European diplomat at the UN, who asked not to be identified criticising the US, said Nauert’s lack of diplomatic experience — before serving
as State Department spokeswoman she was best known as an anchor at Fox News.
Nauert declined to comment. A person close to Nauert who asked not to be identified discussing her nomination, downplayed criticism of her experience and instead cited her close working relationship with Pompeo, including joining him on three trips to Pyongyang.
Yet the UN envoy change comes as Pompeo signals a hardening view of the UN. He said in a speech in Brussels that the body “was founded as an
organisation that welcomed peace-loving nations. I ask: Today, does it continue to serve its mission faithfully?”