U.S. to exit 66 international organizations in further retreat from global cooperation : NPR

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organizations, including the U.N. Population Agency and the U.N. treaty that establishes international climate negotiations, as the U.S. continues to retreat from global cooperation.

President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order suspending U.S. support for 66 organizations, agencies and commissions after his administration conducted a review of the participation and funding of all international organizations, including those affiliated with the United Nations, according to a White House release.

Most of the targets are UN-affiliated agencies, commissions and advisory groups that work on climate, labor, migration and other issues that the Trump administration has classified as diversity promotion and “woke” initiatives. Other non-UN organizations include the Atlantic Cooperation Partnership, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, and the Global Counterterrorism Forum.

“The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be oversized, poorly managed, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly managed, captured by vested interests that advance their own agendas that conflict with ours, or pose a threat to our nation's sovereignty, freedoms and shared prosperity,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Trump's decision to withdraw from organizations that promote cooperation between countries to solve global problems comes as his administration has taken military action or made threats that have alarmed allies and adversaries alike, including the capture of autocratic Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and a stated intention to seize Greenland.

The US is developing a model of withdrawal from global agencies

The administration previously suspended support for agencies including the World Health Organization, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, the U.N. Human Rights Council and the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO. It has taken a broader, more personal approach to paying its dues to the world body, choosing which operations and agencies it believes fit Trump's agenda and which no longer serve U.S. interests.

“I think we're seeing a crystallization of the U.S. approach to multilateralism, which is 'my way or the highway,'” said Daniel Forti, head of U.N. affairs at the International Crisis Group. “This is a very clear representation of the desire for international cooperation on Washington’s own terms.”

It marked a major shift from the way previous administrations – both Republican and Democratic – had handled the UN, and forced the world body, already grappling with its own internal reckonings, to respond with a series of staff and program cuts.

Many independent non-governmental organizations, some of which work with the United Nations, cite the closure of many projects due to the US administration's decision last year to cut foreign aid through the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Despite the massive shift, U.S. officials, including Trump himself, say they have seen the potential of the U.N. and instead want to use taxpayer money to expand American influence in many U.N. standard-setting initiatives where there is competition with China, such as the International Telecommunication Union, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization.

The last US global organizations are leaving

The withdrawal from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the latest attempt by Trump and his allies to distance the US from international organizations working on climate issues and addressing climate change.

The UNFCCC, a 1992 agreement among 198 countries to provide financial support for climate change efforts in developing countries, is the core treaty for the landmark Paris climate agreement. Trump, who calls climate change a hoax, withdrew from the agreement shortly after winning back the White House.

Gina McCarthy, a former White House national climate adviser, said being the only country in the world not party to the treaty is “shortsighted, shameful and stupid.”

“This administration is stripping away our nation’s ability to influence trillions of dollars in investments, policies and decisions that could grow our economy and protect us from the costly disasters wreaking havoc on our country,” McCarthy, who co-chairs America Is All In, a coalition of U.S. states and cities concerned about the climate, said in a statement.

Leading scientists say climate change is driving an increase in deadly and costly extreme weather events, including floods, droughts, wildfires, intense rainfall and dangerous heat waves.

The U.S. withdrawal could hamper global efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions because it “gives other countries an excuse to delay their own actions and commitments,” said Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who heads the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that tracks countries' carbon dioxide emissions.

Experts say it will also be difficult to make meaningful progress on climate change without cooperation from the United States, one of the world's largest emitters and economies.

The United Nations Population Fund, the agency that provides sexual and reproductive health care worldwide, has long been a lightning rod for Republican opposition, and Trump cut its funding during his first term. He and other GOP officials have accused the agency of participating in “forced abortions” in countries such as China.

When President Biden took office in January 2021, he restored funding to the agency. A State Department audit the following year found no evidence to support the GOP's claims.

Other organizations and agencies from which the United States will withdraw include the Zero-Carbon Energy Agreement, United Nations University, the International Cotton Advisory Committee, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the Atlantic Cooperation Partnership, the Pan American Institute of Geography and History, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies, and the International Lead and Zinc Research Group.