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The United States is extending its reach to radically shift its role in the United Nations system to reflect its policies on language, culture and funding under the Trump administration. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the latest UN target of a recent announcement by the US to ensure a review that “every US taxpayer dollar we invest overseas and in international organizations is aligned with American interests.” The stance is aligned with White House executive orders focusing on the re-evaluation of foreign assistance and US support for international organizations.
In a statement delivered by Rodney Hunter, interim chief of mission to the US mission to the UN agencies in Rome (USUNRome) at an FAO Council session on April 8, he said the US would reject the agency’s proposal for institutional renewal — a call to adapt and align FAO’s vision, governance and constitution to the UN’s most public ambitions, such as the Sustainable Development Goals. Instead, the US favors a “Member-driven review process that produces practical and measurable reforms that improve the transparency, efficiency, and accountability of FAO’s operations.”
The US demanded that the FAO Council must get agency operations “back to basics” and “demonstrate a continuous commitment to deliver precisely on its core mandate efficiently.”
The FAO is a specialized agency that it says “leads international efforts to defeat hunger,” operating on a $1.77 billion budget to do academic research, carry out agricultural projects and work with countries and political entities, civil society and corporations to achieve these ends. Among its 195 member states, the US tops the list of donors, contributing $317 million in 2024, followed by the European Union’s $287 million.
One FAO project strives to end poverty — in line with the SDGs — in some of the world’s poorest countries by “accelerating” national agrifood systems using geospatial modeling and analytics. The project includes “building agro-industries and efficient water management systems” as well as reducing food loss and waste while addressing climate challenges and weather risks.
As the US is demanding that American public and private institutions end DEI and other sociocultural policies, it is also pressuring the UN — a major recipient of US funding — to follow such edicts regarding language, nomenclature, gender identification and global warming, among other matters.
“We request that FAO use clear and accurate language in its work and programming that recognizes that women are biologically female, and men are biologically male,” the US statement said, and “ensure that its work does not include DEI programming and that FAO itself should not advance or undertake DEI efforts.”
Diversity, equity and inclusivity initiatives are meant to promote the fair representation and participation of all people, especially communities that have been historically discriminated against based on identity, gender or ability.
The second Trump administration has justified several drastic, wide-ranging economic policies on the basis that its allies have long cheated the US in one-sided trade “deals” and other global agendas. In the US, Trump has sought to purge the federal government of “ideological” DEI initiatives and benefactors and ordered investigations into DEI practices in companies, nongovernmental organizations and schools.
A executive order signed on Inauguration Day in January by President Trump empowered the US Office of Management and Budget to identify and “terminate” all DEI, DEIA (which includes “accessibility”) — calling it “discriminatory” — and decreed that the US recognizes only biological sexes assigned at birth under the guise of “protecting women from gender extremism.”
Since then, the US has also taken aim at international programs under these pretenses, negotiating, for example, that UN documents use language that reflects US views on gender, DEI and climate change.
In the past, the FAO has said that gender identity goes beyond the male-female binary. In a 2024 report, “Gender equality and social inclusion for youth organizations,” it states that gender is “socially constructed” and gender identity “may or may not align with the sex assigned to them at birth.” It has also produced audits to disclose whether its “DEI approach to supporting inclusion among employees is effective and consistent with United Nations requirements and expectations.”
In its April 8 statement to the FAO, the US insisted that DEI programs “diminish the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination when selecting people for jobs and services” and that “the individuals and entities that advance its work must be the most qualified, period.”
On the matter of money, the US also said that it expected the FAO “to present Members with a realistic budget that doesn’t increase the overall contributions required from Member States,” contending that this “will help instill fiscal discipline and keep Member State assessments more sustainable.”
The US also wants references to “climate change” gone, saying that it “cannot accept an unnecessary and distracting focus on climate in FAO’s work.”
It added: “Instead of general references to climate change as a policy matter or root cause of threats, the United States maintains that FAO can be more effective if it helps farmers adapt to specific environmental threats — like land degradation, drought, and extreme heat — while advocating for sensible environmental protections such as increasing access to affordable, reliable and secure energy; enhancing resilience; and disaster planning.”
The FAO was also told that the US “will no longer affirm the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a matter of course.” These agendas, the US said, “advance a program of soft global governance inconsistent with the sovereignty of states.” Given that much of FAO’s work concentrates on the SDGs, it is hard to say how the US directive – if it is carried out – will affect the UN agency.
PassBlue asked USUNRome whether the US will continue funding the FAO: “The State Department continues to assess our global programs and posture to ensure we are best positioned to address modern challenges on behalf of the American people,” it said in a statement attributable to the US Department of State.
“Our foreign policy must focus on delivering tangible results that make our nation stronger, safer, and more prosperous,” it added. ”Funding for the FAO, along with other international organizations, is currently under review.”
The FAO did not respond to PassBlue for a comment.