SG Candidate Touts Trump Agenda

By Diana L. Banister | 2026

UNITED NATIONS, September 11 (C-Fam) – President Donald Trump’s agenda for the United Nations has found an advocate in the latest candidate to enter the UN Secretary General’s race, Ecuador’s Ivonne A-Baki. A-Baki has openly flaunted her friendship and ability to negotiate with the U.S. President while understanding his vision for the global body.

A-Baki, who was nominated by the government of Tonga, originally met Trump in 2000 when she was serving as Ecuador’s ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C. She devotes part of her 2021 autobiography to describing her relationship with Trump that “deepened” when she helped organize the Trump-sponsored Miss Universe pageant held in Ecuador in 2004.

“We have a great American President and a great Secretary of State Marco Rubio,” said A-Baki in an August interview with Al Arabiya. “They are doing an amazing job.”

Of Lebanese descent, A-Baki has served as an Ecuadorian government minister as well as Ecuador’s ambassador to France, Qatar, and the United States after first entering the diplomatic scene during peace deliberations between Ecuador and Peru in 1995.

Touting her ability to negotiate and listen to people of all views, A-Baki says her relationship with Trump will be helpful in making dramatic reforms at the U.N.

The Trump Administration has focused on reforms that will get the international organization back to its original Charter of cooperation between states, working toward peace and security and respecting state sovereignty. U.N. agreements increasingly describe their role as “global governance” that imposes common policy targets on all countries and administers U.N. mandates that interfere in domestic social policy debates like abortion, gender ideology, censorship, and climate change regulations on member states.

“President Trump thinks every country should be doing the same, ‘Make America Great,’ making a strong country dependent on themselves, not depending on others,” said A-Baki.

In a speech last year to the General Assembly, Trump criticized the U.N. as ineffective, wasteful and out of step with U.S. priorities. He canceled U.S. membership in the World Health Organization and cut back humanitarian and development aid through the U.N., opting for bilateral agreements instead.

Some suggest reforms in the Secretary General selection process itself. Nominations were opened in November 2025. Yet, A-Baki didn’t enter the race until after the first straw poll was taken on July 30th, when no one candidate emerged as a clear frontrunner. Results of the second straw poll, taken on August 21, reportedly did not change the prospects for the candidates, although the exact vote tally is unknown. Three of the eight candidates were not nominated by their home countries, including A-Baki.

There are also rumors of an October surprise with a new candidate entering the race late with the imprimatur of Trump. Speculation includes FIFA President Gianni Infantino or Trump’s special envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

A-Baki has also touted the fact that she is a woman and emphasized the importance of the U.N. electing the first woman to take the helm. Five candidates are women and all from Latin American countries. Numerous organizations are pushing for a woman to lead the 80-year-old institution. The George Soros backed 1 for 8 Billion Campaign has spent millions toward persuading Security Council member states to support a feminist who supports their agenda.

“We need to have a new world order, we need to have a new U.N.,” said A-Baki on the need for a woman. “We need another perspective of what the U.N. was created for.”

The next straw poll vote will not take place until after the General Assembly opening session in late September.

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