The Trump administration will withdraw from many international organizations, including the UN human rights organization and the UN treaty that establishes international climate negotiations, as the US continues to withdraw from global cooperation.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order suspending support for 66 organizations, agencies and commissions following his orders for his administration to review the participation and funding of all international organizations, including those linked to the United Nations, according to a White House statement on social media.
Most of the targets are UN-affiliated organizations, commissions and advisory panels focused on climate, labor and other issues that the Trump administration has classified as focusing on diversity and “revival” initiatives.
Other non-UN organizations on the list include the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and the Global Counterterrorism Forum.
“The Trump administration has found these institutions useless, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, mismanaged, and hijacked by actors who advance their own goals that conflict with ours, or that threaten our nation’s sovereignty, freedom, and general prosperity,” the State Department said in a statement.
Trump’s decision to withdraw from organizations that promote cooperation among nations to address global challenges comes as his administration has launched military efforts or issued threats that have angered allies and enemies alike, including kidnapping Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and signaling intent to seize Greenland.
Recent US withdrawal from world agencies
In the past, the administration suspended support from organizations such as the World Health Organization, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, the UN Human Rights Council and the UN cultural organization UNESCO. It has taken a different approach to paying the world body, choosing which programs and agencies it believes are in line with Trump’s agenda and which no longer serve America’s interests.
“I think what we’re seeing is a resurgence of America’s multilateralism, which is ‘my way or the highway,'” said Daniel Forti, head of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group. “It is a clear idea to seek international cooperation according to the principles of Washington.”
It marked a major change in the way previous administrations – Republican and Democratic – dealt with the UN, and forced the world body, already conducting its own internal reckoning, to respond with a series of staff and program cuts.
Independent independent organizations – some working for the United Nations – have revealed many projects that were closed due to the decision of the American government last year to cut foreign aid through the US Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Despite major changes, American officials, including Trump himself, say they have seen the power of the UN and want to focus taxpayer money on increasing American influence in many established UN programs where there is competition with China, such as the International Telecommunications Union, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization.
Ongoing progress in tackling climate change
Withdrawing from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, is the latest attempt by Trump and his supporters to distance the US from international organizations focused on climate and tackling climate change.
The UNFCC, a 1992 agreement between 198 countries to financially support climate change activities in developing countries, is the cornerstone of the landmark Paris climate agreement. Trump, who calls climate change a hoax, pulled out of that deal shortly after taking back the White House.
Gina McCarthy, a former national climate adviser at the White House, called the move “a misguided, embarrassing and foolish decision.”
“As the only country in the world that is not a party to the UNFCCC agreement, the Trump administration is abandoning decades of American climate change leadership and global cooperation,” McCarthy, co-chair of America Is All In, a coalition of U.S. states and cities concerned about climate, said in a statement.
Mainstream scientists say climate change is responsible for an increase in deadly and costly weather events, including floods, droughts, wildfires, extreme rainfall events and extreme heat.
The US withdrawal could disrupt global efforts to curb greenhouse gases because it “gives other nations an excuse to postpone their actions and commitments,” said Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that track carbon dioxide emissions.
It will also be difficult to achieve meaningful progress on climate change without cooperation from the US, one of the world’s leading emitters and economies, experts say.
The UN humanitarian agency, which provides sexual and reproductive health services around the world, has long been a lightning rod for Republican opposition and Trump himself cut funding to the organization during his first term in office. He and other GOP officials have accused the agency of participating in “forced abortion practices” in countries like China.
When former US president Joe Biden took office in January 2021, he returned the money to the organization. A State Department review conducted the following year found no evidence to support these claims.
Other organizations and agencies that the US will quit include the Carbon Free Energy Compact, the United Nations University, the International Cotton Advisory Committee, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the Pan-American Institute for Geography and History, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies and the International Lead and Zinc Study Group.
The State Department said further reviews are underway.
