The Trump administration has put forward Luke J Lindberg, the US Department of Agriculture trade and foreign agricultural affairs under secretary, as its pick for executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). 

Lindberg would succeed Cindy McCain, who announced her resignation in October due to health issues. 

“Throughout his career, Under Secretary Lindberg has demonstrated the strategic vision, geopolitical insight, and focus on accountability that are necessary to lead WFP in delivering emergency food assistance,” the State Department said in its media note.

The WFP, founded in 1961, is the largest humanitarian organization in the world, offering emergency food relief, direct cash assistance, and technical and development assistance.

The programme is overseen by an executive director, who is appointed jointly by the UN Secretary General, and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) Director-General.

The US is the single largest WFP donor, and has chosen its executive director for each five-year term since 1992. Under the first Trump Administration, WFP head David Beasly, the former South Carolina governor, oversaw the agency raising  $55 billion in funding and a Nobel Peace Prize.

From trade to aid

Prior to serving as USDA under secretary, Lindberg founded South Dakota Trade, an association that assists Midwestern businesses in accessing international markets. Lindberg has also held roles at the Export-Import Bank of the United States, where he served as chief of staff and chief strategy officer; and at Sanford World Clinic, a Sioux Falls-based health system.

Lindberg is also a fellow at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank founded by Trump administration officials in 2021, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. 

The State Department pointed to Lindberg’s experience overseeing the McGovern-Dole Food for Education Program, Food for Progress program, and the Food for Peace program as demonstrating “proven operational excellence at the scale required for WFP leadership.”

World Food Programme in crisis

Lindberg’s nomination comes at a fraught time for the UN agency. Under the second Trump administration, WFP saw its funding slashed in half following the shuttering of the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

The loss of $2.6 billion in US funding triggered the layoff of a third of its staff – and a surge in malnutrition in some of the most fragile humanitarian states. 

WFP has issued emergency appeals to aid Sudanese refugees, Afghan families, and Ukrainians – some of the 103 million people supported by the agency in 2023.

The war in the Middle East further complicates WFP’s mission of providing life-saving aid. “If this conflict continues, it will send shockwaves across the globe, and families who already cannot afford their next meal will be hit the hardest,” said Carl Skau, WFP deputy executive director and chief operating officer in a press statement. “Without an adequately funded humanitarian response, it could spell catastrophe for millions already on the edge.”

“The more consequential question is whether Trump’s pick will rebuild WFP’s lifesaving mission, or continue dismantling an enterprise awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just six years ago,” wrote Sam Vigersky, an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in a March opinion piece. “Humanitarian aid is no longer billed as a needs-based charity, but an explicit lever of statecraft.”

Vigersky argued that the UN Secretary General is likely to green-light Trump’s pick, given the tense status of US-UN relations and the US stake in its financing.

With the State Department and USDA now channelling money back into the WFP, it remains to be seen whether WFP under Lindberg’s leadership will recover its funding and its impact.

The State Department reiterated its stance: “Our support for Luke J Lindberg’s candidacy demonstrates the U.S. commitment to keeping the WFP focused on its core mission: feeding those in need.”

Image Credits: Mercy Corp/ TNH, WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei.