Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ could upend world order, but faces pushback

TEL AVIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin is invited, alongside Chinese leader Xi Jinping and strongmen from Hungary, to Belarus and beyond.

A long and growing list of world leaders, including those from India, Pakistan and the executive branch of the European Union, say they have been offered the chance to join President Donald Trump’s “Peace Council” to oversee the next phase of his plan for the Gaza Strip.

But the Council’s charter makes no direct mention of Gaza and instead proposes a broad mandate for a new international organization that “seeks to promote stability, restore reliable and lawful governance, and ensure lasting peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict.”

“We just created the Peace Council, which I think will be incredible,” Trump said Tuesday during a White House press briefing. “I wish the United Nations could do more. I wish we didn’t need a Peace Council, but the United Nations, and, you know, with all the wars I’ve settled, the United Nations has never helped me in a single war.”

While some leaders have publicly accepted, it is unclear whether some have agreed to give $1 billion to avoid renewing their membership after three years, according to the charter, the text of which was confirmed to NBC News by two sources whose countries have received invitations.

Many appear to have been surprised by the board’s growing ambitions. Key U.S. allies in Europe have already expressed reservations that the plan could undermine the United Nations’ primacy in conflict resolution, even though Trump has repeatedly threatened to use U.S. military force to take control of Greenland.

In letters sent Friday to various world leaders, Trump said the body would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving global conflicts,” according to a copy of the letter posted on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s website. Other media outlets cited the same letter received by other leaders.

A source close to French President Emmanuel Macron told NBC News that at this stage he “does not intend to give a favorable response” to the invitation, citing major questions about respect for the U.N. and that the board could specifically act as a rival to the Security Council, the organization’s most powerful body created in the aftermath of World War II.

In a separate statement, Macron’s office said the council’s charter “goes beyond Gaza and raises serious questions, particularly with regard to the principles and structure of the United Nations, which cannot be called into question.”

Trump responded by threatening Monday evening to impose 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne, in an apparent bid to pressure Macron to change his position and rejoin his board.

The Kremlin also opposed Putin’s invitation. “We are currently studying all the details of this proposal, in particular hoping to contact the American side to clarify all the nuances,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had been invited and his diplomats were working on it.

Orbán and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, called “Europe’s last dictator,” also said they had received Trump’s letter. Orbán said he “accepted this honorable invitation” and Lukashenko made his country’s accession to the board official on Tuesday, according to an article on X from the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.

The list of those invited to participate includes nearly two dozen countries as diverse as Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Canada and Australia, and helps shed light on the structure and mission of Trump’s plan for post-war governance of Gaza, further emphasizing the next phase of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

But in Israel, the plan has already been criticized by ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said Monday it was time to explain to Trump “his plan is bad for the State of Israel and cancel it,” according to the Associated Press.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a more diplomatic line, telling lawmakers Monday that there were differences with the United States over the composition of the advisory committee accompanying the next phase in Gaza, but that it would not harm his relationship with Trump, according to the AP.

Israeli politicians have been highly critical of Trump’s inclusion of diplomats from Qatar and Turkey in a separate advisory committee that will play an important role in the administration of Gaza. Both were also invited to the Peace Council and both have strained relations with Israel following its two-year war in Gaza. Netanyahu said on Monday that no soldiers from these countries would be allowed to enter the Palestinian enclave.

Another neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, said it accepted the invitation on Tuesday.

In a statement Saturday, Netanyahu’s office said the Gaza executive committee was “not coordinated with Israel and was contrary to its policies” and that he had instructed Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to contact Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

In the months since the U.N. Security Council approved Trump’s ceasefire plan for Gaza, the White House’s initial concept appears to have broadened and the council’s new charter does not mention the enclave. The White House did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on the omission.

“This is about diplomacy and influence on the ground, not about creating a global cosmic superstructure,” said Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based think tank. Trump’s plan, he said, is “related to a galaxy far, far away, not the realities here on planet Earth.”

The charter also indicates that Trump will be the first chairman of the executive council to vote on proposals submitted to him. “These decisions will take effect immediately, subject to the President’s veto at any time thereafter,” it said.

The price tag, along with guaranteed U.S. dominance of the board, could make membership a tough sell, Miller said.

“If you sign up for the ‘Peace Council,’ you will align yourself with Trump’s vision,” said Miller, who worked closely on Middle East peace negotiations during his decades-long career as a U.S. diplomat. “Adding a billion-dollar entry fee, as if it were getting a seasonal membership to Mar-a-Lago, made it seem like it wasn’t serious.”