Elise Stefanik - Trump's Likely New US Ambassador to the UN by Tom McDermott

Donald Trump has announced that Representative Elise Stefanik will be his nominee as US Ambassador to the UN. This article presents a brief profile of Stefanik and potential issues that she may present for the UN and UNICEF.  I will welcome any additions or corrections by our readers.

Background - Elise Stefanik might be well described as a quintessential professional politician. She went to work in the Bush White House almost immediately after her under-graduate studies in politics at Harvard. While at Harvard she was active in the Institute of Politics where she became Vice President of the Institute in 2004.

When first elected to the US House of Representatives at age 30 in 2014, Stefanik was the youngest woman member of the House. She began as a moderate Republican, but when Donald Trump entered the race for President in 2016, she tied herself increasingly to his agenda.

Stefanik is Catholic and grew up in the suburbs of Albany, NY to parents of Czech and Italian origin. Her father owns a lumber supply company, inherited from Stefanik’s grandfather. She married Matthew Manda, who manages public affairs for a national trade association for arms manufacturers. The family moved to a town near Saratoga Springs, NY. They have two young children.

Since her election in 2014 Stefanik has represented New York’s ‘North Country’, an area stretching to the Canadian border.

In Congress Stefanik is known for her strident defense of Israel and opposition to any signs of anti-semitism in the US. In the past year she became well-known for her aggressive questioning of university presidents over perceived anti-semitism on their campuses. Her much publicized denunciations of what Stefanik saw as failure to control anti-war protests ultimately led four of the university presidents to resign their posts - Harvard, Columbia, U of Pennsylvania, and Cornell.

Recent public statements regarding the UN

“As the largest financial contributor to the U.N., the U.S. must present the U.N. with a choice: reform this broken system and return it to the beacon of peace and freedom the world needs it to be, or continue down this antisemitic path without the support of American taxpayers.”

“The U.N. has proven again and again that it is a cesspool of antisemitism that has completely turned against Israel in its darkest hour.”

"If the United Nations continues its antisemitism, the US must withdraw support.”

Elise Stefanik “Washington Examiner, September 25, 2024

Record in the US Congress - Stefanik's Congressional voting record reflects consistent support for both the Trump administration's policies and strong US-Israel relations, while showing varying positions on other international issues. Several points to which we should pay attention, however, are:

WHO and the Pandemic - Stefanik has been highly critical of WHO’s performance during the COVID pandemic, arguing that WHO shielded China’s alleged role in COVID’s origin.

International agreements - In 2024 Stefanik joined as a co-sponsor of a bill designed to prevent current or future US administration from joining any form of international agreement with WHO regarding future pandemics. The supporters of the bill argue that such an agreement would undermine US sovereignty. The bill suggests that any such agreement would constitute a treaty and as such would require approval by a two-thirds majority of the Senate (an almost impossible requirement to meet). The bill ultimately passed the House, but has not been voted on by the Senate. Negotiations on a pandemic continue to be hosted by WHO with no final drafts expected soon.

We should keep in mind that conservative forces similarly opposed US ratification of the CRC, arguing among other points that it infringed the sovereignty of the US and the rights of US states in matters such as capital punishment.

Climate - Stefanik was among a small group of Republicans who wrote to then President Trump in 2017 urging him not to withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords. He did so anyway and Stefanik was quoted as calling the decision a mistake as the US needed a seat at the table. Trump is now widely expected to withdraw again from the Accords, after Biden restored US participation.

Parental Rights - Stefanik co-sponsored a bill supporting parental rights. This bill follows from the parental rights movement in the US and mainly concerns the rights of parents and requires parental approval for any education or health matters concerning their children. This has largely concerned the issues of sex education, pregnancy, birth control, and sexual orientation.

International adoption - Stefanik has been a strong supporter of the right of international adoption by US parents. This position could present some problems for UNICEF which has long argued against the international adoption industry

Likely Challenges for Stefanik at the UN

Limited experience and few links - Stefanik has no foreign policy experience aside from her role in Congressional committees. In this she differs greatly from her predecessor, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, but also from earlier US Ambassadors under Trump, Nikki Haley and Kelly Craft - both of whom had at least some foreign policy exposure in business.

Death by Tweet - Haley during her time in the post struggled at times to express a US view on an issue, knowing that within minutes she could be contradicted by a tweet by Trump.  The same dilemma of being undercut may face Stefanik, especially given that Trump and his VP, JD Vance, will likely work from an agenda set out in Project 2025 - the right wing agenda laid last year out for the Trump administration by a working group at the Heritage Foundation with a goal of “building a governing agenda, not just for next January but long into the future”.  Trump disavowed Project 2025 late in his campaign, but its advocates will likely continue to push the agenda in tweets and public statements that could undercut Stefanik.

The SG - It is also hard to imagine Stefanik gaining strong relations with the Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, who will end his term of office in 2026, or with the many seasoned ambassadors at the UN. Despite many differences in outlook, Nikki Haley managed a fairly good relationship with Guterres early in their respective times at the UN. Stefanik will arrive late in the SG’s term and carrying considerable political baggage.

The UNICEF ED - Catherine Russell’s term of office at UNICEF will expire in February 2026. Since she was closely identified with the Biden administration, it is very likely that the Trump team will look to replace her with a loyalist whenever an opportunity arises.

Pulling Out, Again - Trump is also likely to withdraw from both UNESCO and UNFPA soon after taking office. He will also likely withdraw from the Human Rights Council. The threat of withdrawal or serious cuts of funding will hang over all aspects of the UN budgets, including UN Human Rights, Peacekeeping, UNHCR and UNICEF.

Child rights and (or vs) parental rights - Issues around child rights will need deft handling by UNICEF, particularly when issues of maternity, birth spacing, and sexual orientation arise. The Trump administration plans to take a pro-natalist policy, which could offer some opportunities for UNICEF in terms of reducing infant and maternal mortality, nutrition, and so forth. UNICEF may find a tricky issue ahead in dealing with the block of governments who opposed the Pact for the Future and other UN actions which raised questions around the limits of human rights, sexual-orientation, family planning and so forth. This may become a much more difficult issue in the next few years as the Trump administration is aligning itself so closely with Russia. Stefanik may find herself in the thick of these debates.

Climate - Among the few issues for which she may be able to inject her personal views, climate may be an early challenge. Most of the US role in climate matters will be handled under other sections of the US State Department dealing with the Paris and Copenhagen process. If and when Trump decides to withdraw again from the Accords, she will be faced with diplomatic blowback, but will be unable to do much to assuage concerns at the Security Council or General Assembly levels.

Overall - I expect that Stefanik may face a tough period ahead. She will need to act fast to establish relations at the UN, while at the same time maintaining her rapport in both the White House and Congress. She will be cut off from her power base, in particular her ties to Trump. She will face blowback at the UN for what are likely to be her strident support for Israel and her condemnation of Palestine along with Iran, Syria, and Lebanon. Given her own ‘Make America Great Again” (MAGA) background and Trump’s transactional approach to foreign affairs, she will struggle to find a way to present some balance in representing the US in a multi-national organization.  In addition, Trump's announcement of another MAGA Republican star, Marco Rubio, as Secretary of State is likely to lead to competition in any effort to keep the President's ear.