ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday inaugurated his Board of Peace to lead efforts at maintaining a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, insisting “everyone wants to be a part” of the body he said could eventually rival the United Nations — despite many U.S. allies opting not to participate.
In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump sought to create momentum for a project to map out a future of
the war-torn Gaza Strip that has been overshadowed this week, first by his threats to seize Greenland, then by a dramatic retreat from that push.
The new peace board was initially envisioned as a small group of world leaders overseeing the ceasefire, with Trump as chairman, but it has morphed into something far more ambitious — and skepticism about its membership and mandate has led some countries usually closest to Washington to take a pass.
Norway and Sweden indicated they wouldn't participate in the board. France declined, citing concerns the board could seek to replace the U.N. Canada was uncommitted.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had given unusually blunt remarks about the “rupture” in the rules-based order at Davos. On his way home from the forum, Trump hit back.
“Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” he wrote to Carney on social media. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
It wasn’t immediately clear how many countries have signed on. In Davos, Trump told reporters “we’re going to have, I think, over 50” countries join.
But at his launch, Trump was joined by officials from 19 countries. He told the group, ranging from Azerbaijan to Paraguay to Hungary, “You’re the most powerful people in the world.”
Flying back to Washington, Trump told reporters: “The letter only went out two days ago. We had almost 30 people already." Trump said some leaders have told him they want to join but first require approval from their parliaments, specifically naming Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Polish President Karol Nawrocki.
The charter for the board has not yet been publicly released. Asked whether the document would allow him to remain chairman beyond his time in office, Trump said he would have the right to stay on if he so chose. “It’s in theory, for life — but I’m not sure I want that,” Trump said.
Trump has spoken about the board replacing some U.N. functions, but in his Thursday speech he said the two bodies would work together. “This isn’t the United States, this is for the world,” he said, adding, “I think we can spread it out to other things as we succeed in Gaza.”
Trump's event featured Ali Shaath, the head of a new, future technocratic government in Gaza, announcing that the Rafah border crossing will open in both directions next week. But there was no confirmation of that from Israel, which said only that it would consider the matter next week. The Gaza side of the crossing, which runs between Gaza and Egypt, is currently under Israeli military control.
The idea for the Board of Peace was first laid out in Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan and even was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.
An Arab diplomat in a European capital said that Middle Eastern governments coordinated their response to Trump’s invitation to join the Board of Peace and that it was crafted to limit the acceptance to the Gaza plan as mandated by the U.N. Security Council.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter more freely, the diplomat said the announced acceptance is “preliminary” and that the charter presented by the U.S. administration contradicts in some parts the United Nations’ mission. The diplomat also said that other major powers are unlikely to support the board in its current form.
Some countries have raised questions about invitations Trump extended to Russian President Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian leaders. Britain’s foreign secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC that there were “concerns about President Putin being part of something which is talking about peace, when we have still not seen any signs from Putin that there will be a commitment to peace in Ukraine.”
As for Putin, he said his country is still consulting with Moscow’s “strategic partners” before deciding to commit. The Russian was hosting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday in Moscow.
The Kremlin said Thursday that Putin planned to discuss his proposal to send $1 billion to the Board of Peace and use it for humanitarian purposes during his talks with Abbas — if Russia can use assets the U.S. had previously blocked. Asked about that idea by reporters, Trump said, “If he’s using his money, that’s great.”
In Davos, Trump also met privately Thursday for about an hour with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He was circumspect about how it went. “I had a good meeting — but I’ve had numerous good meetings with President Zelenskyy and it doesn’t seem to happen,” Trump said.
He expressed some sympathy for Ukrainians struggling without heat in the winter because of Russian attacks on infrastructure, but also frustration that he has not been able to broker a deal to end the war, noting “the same things that have been holding it up for the past year” continue to be sticking points.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner traveled to Moscow on Thursday for talks with Putin.
Zelenskyy on Thursday said there would be two days of trilateral meetings involving the U.S., Ukraine and Russia in the United Arab Emirates starting Friday.
Trump said Zelenskyy told him in the meeting that he’d like to make a deal.
“There were times when Putin didn’t want to make a deal, times when Zelenskyy didn’t want to make deal,” Trump said. “Now I think they both want to make a deal — but we’ll find out.”
Trump's push for peace comes after he threatened military action this month against Iran as it carried out a violent crackdown against some of the largest street protests in years, killing thousands of people.
Trump, for the time being, has signaled he won't carry out any new strikes on Iran after he said he received assurances that the Islamic government would not carry out the planned hangings of more than 800 protesters.
He said Thursday that the U.S. is moving a fleet of ships toward Iran “just in case” it wants to take action against the country over its crackdown.
And he said he was keeping in place a threat to slap 25% tariffs on countries doing business with Iran. “We’re doing that,” he said. The White House has not yet provided details on that tariff plan, which Trump had announced more than a week ago.
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This story has been corrected to fix Trump’s references to the number of countries involved in his Board of Peace. Trump said 59 countries had been involved with the ceasefire he brokered for Gaza. He did not say that 59 countries had signed on to the Board of Peace.
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Madhani and Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Ali Swenson in Washington and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed.
