Trump’s $1 Billion-a-Seat Diplomacy Club Takes Aim at the U.N.
Other major powers invited to join the Board of Peace have reacted cautiously so far
- President Trump has expanded his Gaza Board of Peace into a global conflict-mediating body, bypassing the United Nations.
- A permanent seat on Trump’s proposed global body would cost $1 billion, with invitations extended to approximately 60 governments.
- As chairman, Trump would possess broad authority, including veto power over decisions and the ability to appoint or remove member states.
President Trump has expanded the mission of his proposed Gaza Board of Peace into a global body that would take on the role mediating conflicts 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 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.”
Countries that agree to join the board could 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.
“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.
The U.N. Security Council authorized the Board of Peace in November to oversee Gaza’s postwar stabilization and reconstruction. But the charter circulated by the White House outlines a far broader mission.
“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,” it says.
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.
Around 60 governments have received invitations to join the board, but the reaction from most has been cautious so far. Asked Monday about the Trump plan, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters: “We’re talking to allies about the terms of the Board of Peace.”
France has been asked to join the board but plans to decline the offer for now because the charter goes beyond responsibility for Gaza and raises questions about the impact it would have on the U.N., according to a French official.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state news agencies on Monday that Moscow was “studying the details of the offer and hoping to be in contact with the American side to clarify all the nuances,” without addressing the $1 billion fee.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on X he had been invited onto the board and had already accepted. Orbán has positioned himself as one of the loudest advocates for Trump’s peace efforts in Ukraine. “We have, of course, accepted this honourable invitation,” Orbán said.
The king of Morocco, Mohammed VI, and the president of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, also announced they would join the board, officials from each country said in social-media posts that didn’t mention the $1 billion fee for a permanent seat.
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.
The charter specifies that “Donald J. Trump shall serve as inaugural Chairman,” and it appears to outline a succession procedure that ensures he or a handpicked successor would remain in the position indefinitely.
“Replacement of the Chairman may occur only following voluntary resignation or as a result of incapacity,” it says. In that event, “the Chairman’s designated successor shall immediately assume the position of the Chairman.”