NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Rep. Elise Stefanik to serve as its ambassador to the United Nations and choose a loyal ally with little foreign policy experience to represent the US at the international organization.

“Elise is an incredibly strong, tough and smart America First fighter,” Trump said Monday in a statement announcing his choice for the role — his first selection requiring Senate confirmation.

StefanikThe 40-year-old president, chairman of the House Republican Conference, has long been one of Trump’s most loyal allies in the House of Representatives and was among those discussed as a possible vice presidential pick.

She will wade into the world’s deep divisions, from the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine to reining in the nuclear programs in North Korea and Iran.

She will also come face to face at the UN Security Council on an almost daily basis with the ambassadors of Russia and China, whose countries are now deeply connected and eyeing a second Trump presidency – and sometimes with their counterparts from North Korea and Iran.

Stefanik will succeed the US ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfielda career diplomat and former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa, who held the position throughout the Biden administration and served as a member of his Cabinet. Stefanik will also join Trump’s Cabinet, he said in the statement.

During Trump’s first administration, he chose former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who had little foreign experience other than a few trade missions, for the UN post. After two years she resigned challenged Trump for the GOP nomination. Haley was succeeded by then-U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft, wife of a Kentucky coal magnate who was unsuccessful in her 2023 bid for the GOP nomination for governor of the state.

John Bolton, a former U.S. national security adviser under Trump and ambassador to the U.N. during the Bush administration, told The Associated Press that he sees Stefanik as the 2024 version of Haley.

“She wants to run for president in 2028. She realizes she has no foreign policy experience, so what better way than to become a UN ambassador,” Bolton said. “She’ll stay for two years, and then we’ll leave.”

Born and raised in upstate New York, Stefanik graduated from Harvard and worked in former President George W. Bush’s White House on the Domestic Policy Council and in the Office of the Chief of Staff.

In 2014, at the age of 30, she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, representing New York State. She later became the youngest woman to serve in House leadership.

Stefanik was known as a more moderate conservative voice early in her term. But she quickly bonded with the former presidentas she quietly transformed her image into that of a staunch MAGA ally – and watched her power grow.

In 2021, she became chair of the House Republican Conference.

Stefanik has for years positioned himself as one of Trump’s most trusted allies and confidantes on the Hill. She endorsed him in the 2024 race before he had even launched his bid, and aggressively campaigned on his behalf during the Republican Party primaries.

She saw her profile rise after her aggressive questioning of a trio of college presidents about anti-Semitism on their campuses led to two of their resignations — a feat Trump repeatedly praised.

She also vigorously defended him in both of his impeachment trials and railed against his four criminal charges, including filing an ethics complaint in New York against the judge who handled his civil fraud case.

Although she serves on the House Armed Services Committee and serves on the coveted House committee that oversees national intelligence, her choice reinforces Trump’s preference for unconditional loyalty in his second administration over career experience.

One area of ​​foreign policy that Stefanik speaks out about is Israel.

Since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas warStefanik has focused much of her attention on the United Nations, accusing the world body and international organizations of anti-Semitism for their criticism of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, which its Health Ministry says has resulted in the deaths of more than 43,000 Palestinians.

She has even gone so far as to call last month for a “complete reassessment” of US funding for the United Nations, while helping to block US support for the UN agency that provides humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in the region.

Her departure for the United Nations would also mean that Republicans, who are on their way to a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, would leave one crucial vote behind. But Stefanik’s district is in a deep red part of New York state, where Republicans are likely guaranteed to win the special election that will take place after she leaves office.

“Republicans will hold this safe Republican seat as part of a Republican majority in the House of Representatives that will help deliver on President Trump’s historic mandate,” Ed Cox, chairman of the New York Republican Party, said in a statement Monday .

Trump did not say much about the UN during his campaign, but generally advocated a less interventionist foreign policy. He has also repeatedly questioned the usefulness of international alliances, including NATO, and has threatened allies with higher tariffs and said he will not protect them unless they contribute more to their own defense.

Trump has also spoken about how he initially wanted to select his eldest daughter, Ivanka Trumpfor the role after being chosen for the first time.

“You would make a great ambassador to the United Nations, secretary of the United Nations.” There wouldn’t be anyone to compete with her, I’m telling you,” he said at a Moms for Liberty Summit in August. “She may be my daughter, but no one could have competed with her.”

___ Amiri reported from Washington.