U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter and informal advisor, Ivanka Trump, met with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for lunch at U.N. headquarters in New York on Friday (July 28) amid a push by Trump to slash funding for the world body.
Ivanka Trump is seen as an increasingly important influence on her father and her husband, Jared Kushner, is a top adviser to him.
A White House official said Guterres had reached out to Ivanka to “to discuss areas of common interest after the launch of the World Bank’s economic facility to advance women’s entrepreneurship.” The United Nations had no immediate comment on Friday’s lunch.
Trump’s daughter, who ran an eponymous clothing and jewelry business before taking a job at the White House, has made women’s issues one of her signature policy areas.
The United States is the biggest U.N. contributor, paying 22 percent of the $5.4 billion biennial core budget and 28.5 percent of the $7.3 billion peacekeeping budget. These assessed contributions are agreed by the 193-member General Assembly.
Ultimately the U.S. Congress sets the federal government budget and will decide how much money is available for U.N. funding. Republicans, who control both houses, and Democrats have said they do not support drastic cuts proposed by Trump.
(Reuters)
