WASHINGTON // US president-elect Donald Trump has chosen an Indian-American, South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, to fill the role of US ambassador to the United Nations.
She is so far the only women to be chosen for a top-level administration post.
The role will be a cabinet-level position, and Ms Haley has accepted, Mr Trump said on Wednesday.
“Governor Haley has a proven track record of bringing people together regardless of background or party affiliation to move critical policies forward for the betterment of her state and our country,” Mr Trump said. “She is also a proven dealmaker, and we look to be making plenty of deals. She will be a great leader representing us on the world stage.”
Ms Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was raised as a Sikh, and became only the second Asian-American to serve as a US governor. She was an outspoken critic of Mr Trump throughout much of the presidential race.
Although Ms Haley has limited foreign policy experience, Mr Trump said he was impressed with her knowledge of global affairs. Jason Miller, a transition spokesman, also said the two had “a natural chemistry”.
South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham praised Ms Haley as a good choice and said he looks forward to working with her on “overdue reforms of the United Nations”. Mr Graham is chairman of the Senate’s foreign operations subcommittee on appropriations, which is responsible for funding the United Nations and all American foreign assistance.
Ms Haley said she accepted the assignment partly out of “a sense of duty”.
“When the president believes you have a major contribution to make to the welfare of our nation, and to our nation’s standing in the world, that is a calling that is important to heed,” she said.
Not all presidents have treated the ambassadorship to the UN as a cabinet-level position, and Republicans have tended not to grant it that status.
Ms Haley's appointment came a day after Mr Trump carried out a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times in which he appeared to soften his tone on whether climate change is real and on his stated plans to scrap the recent multinational agreement to limit carbon emissions.
The president-elect said he would “keep an open mind” about the Paris accord, which, during the campaign, he repeatedly said he planned to either renegotiate or cancel.
Mr Trump also said that human activity and global warming may be linked. “I think there is some connectivity,” he said. “Some, something. It depends on how much.”
The remarks marked a significant shift from Mr Trump’s previous statements that climate change is a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese to make US manufacturing less competitive. The president-elect has also cited winter cold snaps as evidence that climate change is a “con job” and a “myth.”
“The entire country is FREEZING – we desperately need a heavy dose of global warming, and fast! Ice caps size reaches all time high,” he tweeted during a 2014 blizzard.
* Associated Press