Trump Administration Urged to Influence UN Leadership Selection as Guterres’ Term Nears End

The Trump administration is facing mounting pressure to take an active role in selecting the next United Nations Secretary-General, with advocates emphasizing the need for a leader who aligns with U.S. and Western values rather than someone who might further an anti-American agenda.

Current Secretary-General António Guterres, the former socialist prime minister of Portugal, will complete his term on December 31, 2026. His tenure has been marked by major global conflicts and accusations of bias, particularly regarding his stance on Israel.

“As long as the United States continues to make the mistake of being the largest bankroller of the United Nations and in keeping U.N. headquarters a stone’s throw from our financial capital, it ought to care deeply about who leads the organization,” said Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices.

Jonathan Wachtel, a former director of communications and senior policy advisor at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations under ambassadors Nikki Haley and Kelly Craft, emphasized the growing anti-American sentiment within the organization. “Since its inception, the United Nations has been a frontline of the Cold War, and today it is increasingly a frontline of hostility toward the United States,” he noted.

The selection process for the next Secretary-General is already underway, with member nations beginning to nominate candidates who best align with their national interests. According to Hugh Dugan, former National Security Council special assistant to the president, the Security Council will present the U.N. General Assembly with a preferred candidate for formal acceptance late next year after a series of straw polls and candidate eliminations.

Brett Schaefer, a senior research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, expressed concerns about the current field of candidates. “The announced and rumored candidates are, for the most part, either U.N. insiders or on the left side of the political spectrum,” Schaefer said. “It’s hard to say that the U.S. would be willing to support any of them at the current stage.”

The Current Field

Among the declared candidates, Rafael Grossi of Argentina, the current head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, appears to be the most acceptable candidate to U.S. interests. As an Argentine diplomat, Grossi has demonstrated courage in dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions and working to prevent nuclear disasters in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Other declared candidates include former Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca, a member of the Movement for Socialism who has previously expressed disdain for Western thinking, and former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. During her time as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022, Bachelet was criticized by U.N. Watch for condemning Israel and the U.S. while “turning a blind eye to widespread violations by China, Turkey, North Korea, Cuba, Eritrea” and other nations.

The field also includes former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan, who headed the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development and has advocated for increased regulation to address international finance inequalities. Schaefer suggests that Grynspan’s 30-year U.N. career makes her a “consummate insider” who would likely be unwilling “to shake up the system.”

Two outside candidates have also entered the race: Colombe Cahen-Salvador, a left-wing political activist and co-founder of the Atlas Movement, and Bruno Donat, a joint Mauritius-U.S. citizen and official at the U.N. Mine Action Service.

Possible Contenders

Several other potential candidates are expected to be nominated in the coming months. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, described as “a global icon of the left,” may enter the race, though Schaefer noted that her previous resignation from office is not “a ringing endorsement” of her capability to handle the demanding role of Secretary-General.

Other possible candidates include Mexico’s former top diplomat Alicia Bárcena, who has 14 years of experience as the head of the U.N.’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean; María Fernanda Espinosa, formerly defense and foreign minister of Ecuador; Nigeria’s Amina Mohammed, currently U.N. Deputy Secretary-General; Kristalina Georgieva of Bulgaria, who has managed the International Monetary Fund since 2019; and former head of the U.N. Development Programme Achim Steiner of Germany.

According to tradition, the next Secretary-General should come from Latin America, and there is significant pressure to appoint a woman after 15 years of calls for female leadership in the position.

“A long list of anti-American secretaries-general, topped off by the profoundly hostile Antonio Guterres, have done enormous damage to America’s international relations, fueled antisemitism on a global scale and gravely diminished global peace and security,” Bayefsky warned. “We take a back seat in this election at our peril.”

With the United States being the largest financial contributor to the U.N., experts agree that the incoming Trump administration must actively participate in the selection process to ensure that American interests and Western values are represented in the organization’s future leadership.