The United States is trying to weaken a global agreement aimed at helping developing countries that fight with the impacts of climate change and other problems, an internal document of the United Nations seen by Reuters presented.
The Trump administration opposes the reform projects of the world’s financial system aimed at helping developing countries, even around taxes, credit ratings and fossil fuel subsidies. He also wants “climate”, “gender equality” and “sustainability” stripped.
The previously not declared document sheds light on how the Trump administration seeks to print a “first” America “agenda, including opposition to efforts to curb climate change and promote diversity, in institutions in the heart of fixing global systemic crises.
The 4th International Conference on Development Financing (FFD4), once a decade, in Seville, Spain, in June aims to influence the strategic direction of the world’s development financial institutions. Countries agreed in FFD3, for example, expanding tax cooperation efforts so that developing countries could help establish the rules, and until the last month of May, more than 140 countries were involved.
“This conference is about gathering world leaders and establishing the underlying rules and priorities to finance development goals during the next decade,” said Tom Mitchell, executive director of the International Institute of Environment and Development. Reuters.
Compiled by permanent representatives to the UN of Mexico, Nepal, Norway and Zambia, with the help of the UN Secretariat, the April 11 negotiation draft is noted with the positions of the 193 nations involved in the discussions.
With the continuous changes in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in the fight against climate change that already faces the rejection of the United States Secretary of the United States, Scott Besent, the document showed that I was looking to water more reform efforts.
Among the specific points of the text that refer to systemic reform, the document shows that the United States wants to eliminate a reference to a “reform package” for sustainable development. He wants to replace a line that promises to “commit to reform the international financial architecture” with the commitment to “recognize the need to improve its resilience and effectiveness in response to present and future challenges and crises.”
Such changes in language indicate the degree of shared commitment that can then be used as support for action or inaction in future conversations.
The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, has recognized the need to overcome multiple challenges before the conference, but urged “all countries to be on the table in Seville focused on solutions,” said spokesman Florencia Soto Niño Reuters.
The White House and the Treasury Department did not respond to comments requests. The State Department declined to comment.
Although the United States position on development has become harder Trump, the negotiation document shows that it continues to support efforts that include developing countries that work more closely with the private sector and encourage innovation and financial education.
Climate change
A key objective of global reforms is to better help the poorest nations to deal with climatic disasters, which worsen due to climate change and increase economic development using low carbon energy instead of traditional fossil fuels.
President Donald Trump has resigned from the UN climate agreement of the UN Paris, reduced the foreign development aid of the United States in more than 80 percent as part of a government review led by billionaire Elon Musk and embarked on a commercial war that is harming many poorest nations.
Among the areas of the FFD4 document to which the US objects.
If included, the encumbrances could assume the UN negotiations on taxes this year and reinforce a working group led by France, Kenya and Barbados that aims to develop such taxes between smaller groups in countries.
Other countries to object include Russia, Saudi Arabia and China.
The United States is also trying to eliminate a paragraph that asks companies to pay taxes to countries where economic activity occurs; a paragraph to help developing countries reinforce fiscal transparency; And another on the elimination of inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, shows the document.
Many of the poorest countries in the world fight with high debt and reconstruction costs after disastrous storms, but the FFD4 document shows that the United States wants to achieve a paragraph to reform the credit qualification system.
That includes an impulse for evaluators to adopt a more indulgent approach to the poorest nations that voluntarily restructure their debt to invest in ecological projects, he showed.
The United States also opposes a commitment to ensure that countries receive “adequate and uninterrupted funds in the appropriate terms of social protection and other essential social expenses during clashes and crises,” the document shows.
Although the United States has a considerable influence as the greatest shareholder both in the World Bank, which provides loans and subsidies to developing countries, and the International Monetary Fund, and is currently reviewing its role in both, it is likely that the agreement will change even more as countries continue negotiations in May, before reaching a consensus in a final document in mid -June.
The position of the United States exerts pressure on other countries to accept a weaker agreement, since the conversations aim to adopt an agreement by consensus.
