The Trump administration withdrew the United States from a major U.N. conference to negotiate financing for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The U.S. objects to "new, costly, and duplicative mechanisms or initiatives that will only undermine the effectiveness of existing efforts," Jonathan Shrier, the U.S. acting representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, told a committee on Tuesday preparing for the conference.
"And we no longer reaffirm the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a matter of course," he said ahead of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, or FfD4, scheduled for June 30 to July 3 in Seville, Spain.
The conference will bring together leaders of governments, organizations, and businesses to address urgent financing challenges threatening the U.N.'s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
A draft agreement for delegates has already been prepared that includes steps to reform international financial architecture, reduce the cost of borrowing, and scale up investment to close the financing gap. Debt-burdened developing countries have long sought such reforms.
Shrier said the U.S., which until now has traditionally paid for about a fifth of the U.N.'s budget, said the draft agreement "crosses many of our longstanding redlines," because it "interferes" with the role of "governance structures and mandates of the international financial institutions."
"The International Monetary Fund, the multilateral development banks (MDBs), and other intergovernmental development finance institutions are independent bodies governed by their respective shareholders, and decisions regarding their resources, financing terms, and allocations must be made within those established frameworks," Shrier said.
"The proposals that envision a role for the U.N. in the global debt architecture are unacceptable," he added. "Creditors and borrowers themselves should remain at the core of sovereign debt discussions supported by the expert advice of the IMF and World Bank."
The Trump administration, which is reshaping the U.S. stance on sex and gender as strictly male or female, also opposes the use of the term "gender" in the draft agreement, according to Shrier, adding the U.S. is "committed to merit-based decision-making and equality of opportunity."
The United Nations' annual self-reporting on the world's progress towards achieving the SDGs, unanimously adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2015, shows just 83% were on track as of mid-2024.
