U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the United States to withdraw from dozens of international and United Nations-linked bodies, including a cornerstone global climate treaty and agencies promoting gender equality and population health, saying they “operate contrary to U.S. national interests”.
Reuters cited on Thursday that, in a memo sent to senior administration officials, Trump listed plans to exit 35 non-UN organisations and 31 UN entities, among them the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), widely regarded as the bedrock agreement underpinning global climate negotiations and the parent treaty to the 2015 Paris climate accord.
The move would make the United States the first country to withdraw entirely from the UNFCCC, a treaty to which every other nation remains a party.
“The United States would be the first country to walk away from the UNFCCC,” said Manish Bapna, president and chief executive officer of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“Every other nation is a member, in part because they recognize that even beyond the moral imperative of addressing climate change, having a seat at the table in those negotiations represents an ability to shape massive economic policy and opportunity,” he said.
The decision follows the US absence from the annual UN climate summit last year, marking the first time in three decades that Washington did not attend the gathering.
Trump’s directive also includes withdrawing from UN Women, the UN body working to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment, and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which focuses on family planning as well as maternal and child health in more than 150 countries. The United States cut funding to UNFPA last year.
“For United Nations entities, withdrawal means ceasing participation in or funding to those entities to the extent permitted by law,” the memo stated. Trump has already sharply reduced voluntary US contributions to most UN agencies.
A spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House said the decision reflects a broader review of US participation in international organisations, conventions and treaties. It argued that the targeted entities promote “radical climate policies, global governance, and ideological programs that conflict with U.S. sovereignty and economic strength”.
“These withdrawals will end American taxpayer funding and involvement in entities that advance globalist agendas over U.S. priorities, or that address important issues inefficiently or ineffectively such that U.S. taxpayer dollars are best allocated in other ways to support the relevant missions,” the White House said in a statement.
Trump’s latest move underscores his long-standing scepticism towards multilateral institutions, particularly the United Nations, which he has repeatedly criticised as costly, ineffective and unaccountable to US interests.
Since beginning his second term a year ago, Trump has pursued deep cuts to US funding for the UN, halted engagement with the UN Human Rights Council, extended a suspension of funding to the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, and withdrawn from the UN cultural body UNESCO.
He has also announced plans for the United States to leave the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement.
Other entities named in the withdrawal list include the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the International Energy Forum, the UN Register of Conventional Arms and the UN Peacebuilding Commission.
The administration said it would seek to complete the withdrawals “as soon as possible”, marking a significant retrenchment of US involvement in global multilateral institutions. - January 8, 2025
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