United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday warned the Donald Trump administration against separating the United States from matters of global concern, saying the country could be replaced if it continued to do so. He also warned that the US’ proposed funding cuts to the organisation would be disastrous and create “an unsolvable problem to the management of the UN”, The Washington Post reported.

Guterres made the statement at his first press conference since taking charge as the UN chief. The 68-year-old, who had served as the UN high commissioner for refugees for a decade, chose to hold the interaction on World Refugee Day.

The UN chief criticised President Trump for withdrawing from the Paris climate deal, adding that it was “a signal of hope” that businesses and civil society groups in the US were coming together against their president’s move.

Guterres will head to Washington DC next week where he will appeal to US Congress members to halt Trump’s proposal to slash UN funding, according to AFP. In its Budget announced last month, the US State Department had unveiled plans to bring in a 60% cut in US funding for UN peacekeeping missions.

Speaking on refugees, he urged UN member states to not shut their doors to asylum seekers and also called on developed countries to do more to support the refugees living in the developing world. With the Trump administration working to bring down the number of refugees allowed to enter the US, Guterres said he had encouraged the country “to come back to the levels of resettlement that we witnessed until two or three years ago”.