Trump’s $1 billion-a-seat diplomacy club takes aim at the U.N.
Russia says it’s been invited to join Board of Peace, which was initially aimed at war in Gaza but has grown in ambition.
President Trump has expanded the idea of his proposed Gaza Board of Peace into a global body that would take on the role of conflict resolution currently held by the United Nations and carry a $1 billion fee for a permanent seat, according to a charter sent to prospective members.
Trump announced the board last September as part of the Gaza cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. The charter doesn’t mention Gaza or the U.N., describing a “nimble and effective international peace-building body" with Trump as chairman and other governments serving as member states.
“Too many approaches to peace-building foster perpetual dependency, and institutionalize crisis rather than leading people beyond it," the charter’s preamble says, calling for “a coalition of willing States committed to practical cooperation and effective action."
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the charter.
The expansive mandate underscored Trump’s accelerating push to replace the international system established by the U.S. after World War II, which he has attacked for years as ineffective, with a new structure built around himself that bypasses existing multilateral institutions. Earlier this month he pulled the U.S. out of 31 U.N. agencies and bodies, saying they operated “contrary to U.S. national interests."
“It’s hard not to read this as an attempt to establish a precedent in Gaza that could be used elsewhere in terms of saying that Trump is going to be calling the global shots here, and you either fall in line or you’re not part of the process," said Julien Barnes-Dacey, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
China, Russia, France and Britain, the four other major powers that serve permanently on the U.N. Security Council and have a veto over its actions, are likely to be reluctant to replace that body with Trump’s board, analysts said. Many other countries that see the U.N. as the main international forum where they can exercise influence are likely to be at least as dubious.
“The Board of Peace is an international organization that seeks to promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict," a copy of the charter says.
The U.N. Security Council authorized the Board of Peace in November to oversee Gaza’s postwar stabilization and reconstruction.
Countries that agree to join the board can serve for a three-year term, but that limit would be waived for countries that agree to contribute $1 billion in cash to the board, according to the charter, which was previously reported by Bloomberg.
The charter doesn’t say how the fees will be used.
Around 60 governments have received invitations to join the board, but the reaction from most has been cautious so far.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has received an invitation to join Trump’s Board of Peace, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday.
“Right now, we’re studying the details of the offer and hoping to be in contact with the American side to clarify all the nuances," he told state news agencies, without addressing the $1 billion fee.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on X he had been invited onto the board and had already accepted. Orban has positioned himself as one of the loudest advocates for Trump’s peace efforts in Ukraine. “We have, of course, accepted this honourable invitation," Orban said.
In an invitation sent Friday to Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, Trump described the board as “a distinguished group of nations ready to shoulder the noble responsibility of building LASTING PEACE." Sisi hasn’t responded to the invitation.
Several Arab countries object to involving the board in other conflicts, saying it should be exclusively focused on carrying out the Gaza peace plan at first, officials said. It is risky to create an alternative global peace and security architecture under Trump’s control, they added.
As chairman, Trump would have wide authority over the new organization, with the power to appoint and remove member states, as well as a veto over its decisions. The charter specifies that the board’s decisions will be “made by a majority of the member states present and voting, subject to the approval of the chairman, who may also cast a vote in his capacity as chairman in the event of a tie."
It also reserves for the chairman the “exclusive authority" to create other entities to carry out the board’s mission.
Write to David S. Cloud at david.cloud@wsj.com, Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com and Dov Lieber at dov.lieber@wsj.com
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