President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending U.S. support for 66 international organizations, agencies and commissions, according to a White House release. The administration said the action followed a review of U.S. participation in and funding for international organizations, including groups affiliated with the United Nations.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking in a statement, said the institutions targeted by the review were found to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful and poorly run. Rubio also said the groups were “captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own,” and that they were viewed as “a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity.”
The AP report said many of the organizations on the list are U.N.-related agencies, commissions and advisory panels focused on issues the Trump administration has categorized as catering to diversity and “woke” initiatives, including climate, labor and migration. Other non-U.N. organizations named in the report include the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and the Global Counterterrorism Forum.
The decision to withdraw from organizations that the administration describes as fostering international cooperation comes as the Trump administration has also launched military efforts or issued threats that the report said have rattled allies and adversaries. The AP story cited, among other examples, capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and indicating an intention to take over Greenland.
The report said the move builds on a pattern of earlier U.S. steps away from global agencies. It cited prior suspensions of support for the World Health Organization, UNRWA, the U.N. Human Rights Council and UNESCO, alongside a more selective approach to paying dues to the U.N. body.
Daniel Forti, head of U.N. affairs at the International Crisis Group, said the changes reflect a crystallization of the administration’s approach to multilateralism as “my way or the highway.” Forti added that the view is “very clear” about wanting international cooperation on Washington’s own terms, which he said has marked a major shift from prior administrations and forced the U.N. to respond with staffing and program cuts.
The AP report said independent nongovernmental agencies that work with the United Nations cited project closures after the administration slashed foreign assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development. Despite the reported cuts elsewhere, Trump administration officials told the AP that they see potential in the U.N. and want taxpayer money directed toward expanding American influence in selected standard-setting initiatives, including bodies such as the International Telecommunications Union, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization.
Among the organizations the report described as targeted is the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC. The report described UNFCCC as the 1992 agreement between 198 countries to financially support climate change activities in developing countries, and said it is the underlying treaty for the Paris climate agreement. It also said Trump withdrew from the Paris agreement soon after reclaiming the White House, a step he has framed alongside his view of climate change as a hoax.
Gina McCarthy, a former White House climate adviser, said being the only country in the world not part of the treaty is “shortsighted, embarrassing, and a foolish decision.” In a separate statement, McCarthy said the administration is forfeiting the country’s ability to influence “trillions of dollars” in investments, policies and decisions that she said would have advanced the U.S. economy and protected the country from costly disasters.
The AP report said mainstream scientists have linked climate change to increasing instances of deadly and costly extreme weather, including flooding, droughts, wildfires, intense rainfall events and dangerous heat. The story said Rob Jackson, a Stanford University climate scientist who chairs the Global Carbon Project, said the U.S. withdrawal gives other nations “the excuse to delay their own actions and commitments,” and that experts said meaningful progress on climate change would be difficult without U.S. cooperation given the country’s role as one of the world’s largest emitters and economies.
The report also said the U.N. Population Fund has been a recurring focus of Republican opposition and that Trump cut funding for it during his first term. It said Biden restored funding for the agency in January 2021, and that a State Department review the following year found no evidence to support GOP claims about the fund’s practices.
The AP story listed additional organizations the U.S. will quit, including the Carbon Free Energy Compact, the United Nations University, the International Cotton Advisory Committee and the International Tropical Timber Organization, along with others named in the report. It said the AP had reporting from the United Nations.