U.S. Mission to the United Nations

The U.S. Mission to the United Nations (UN) is the United States’ delegation to the UN. Led by the U.S. ambassador, the U.S. Mission was created in 1947 by Congress. The U.S. Mission holds substantial power at the UN as one of the five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council, which hold veto power over the international body’s decision-making. The United States remains the largest donor to the UN, though budget cuts made by the Trump administration — both realized and proposed — could change that. Despite President Trump’s vocal criticisms of the UN and consistent moves to undercut the institution’s multilateralism, the U.S. Mission has made use of the power it holds to try to export Trump’s far-right-wing agenda globally.

Trump’s first ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, is staunchly anti-abortion and led the U.S. delegation’s charge to roll back reproductive health at the UN. Haley said the U.S. Mission would “remain committed to protecting the fundamental right to life for the unborn.” Trump and his appointees have stacked the U.S. Mission with other anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ extremists. These diplomats held particularly influential roles in the year following Haley’s departure, when the U.S. had no ambassador, and have continued to wield their influence at the international organization to work to roll back gender equality and reproductive rights globally. The U.S. Mission’s anti-reproductive rights work has included withholding support for resolutions designed to prevent sexual violence due to objections to the inclusion of reproductive rights language.