The United Nations on Friday completed an agreement on improved ways to handle the global flow of migrants — a pact particularly notable because it was boycotted by a huge and influential member, the United States.

The agreement — the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration — was negotiated at a time that the conversations about migration and refugees have grown increasingly divisive in much of the Western world.

The United States had initially participated in the negotiations, but it abruptly withdrew last December under orders from the Trump administration, which has taken an increasingly hostile view toward cross-border migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. It argued that such multinational agreements subverted the power of individual governments to control national borders.

“Of course it’s regrettable when a country like the United States pulls away from a global process,” Switzerland’s ambassador to the United Nations, Jürg Lauber, said ahead of the announcement on Friday. “But at the same time, the decision has been accepted and the United States are free and also welcome to rejoin discussions at any point.”