United States exits 31 UN-linked bodies in major shift under Trump administration
President Donald Trump has ordered the US to withdraw from 31 UN-linked organisations, citing sovereignty and national interest concerns, and barred funding for dozens of global bodies, marking a major escalation in his administration’s push against multilateral institutions.
United Nations: In a sweeping ideology-driven move targeting the UN, President Donald Trump is pulling the US out of 31 entities linked to it, alleging that they “no longer serve American interests”.
Trump on Wednesday forbade US departments and agencies from participating in or funding those entities and 35 non-UN organisations.
They “operate contrary to US national interests, security, economic prosperity, or sovereignty” and “advance globalist agendas over US priorities,” the White House said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, these organisations “actively seek to constrain US sovereignty and their work is advanced by the same elite networks”, which he derisively called the “multilateral NGO-plex”.’
Enforcing the America First policy that Trump campaigned on, Rubio added, “We seek cooperation where it serves our people and will stand firm where it does not”.
Many of the organisations on the list work in areas like climate change, gender and population that run counter to the president’s ideology, as well as those in trade and economic fields.
Important among them are the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), International Trade Centre, UN Framework Conference on Climate Change, UN Population Fund, and the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, economic and social commissions for Asia and other regions, and the Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
While some like UNCTAD and the Population Fund receive direct contributions, many on the hit list are funded by the UN’s regular budget for which Washington’s mandated share is 22 per cent.
Trump has not released the US contribution of $820 million for 2025 that was approved by Congress, and his administration has proposed cutting the US contribution this year by $610 million.
In one of his earliest actions since his re-election, Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax” and pushed greenhouse gas-emitting coal and petroleum energy sources, withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement on curbing global warming that was reached through UNFCC negotiations.
Explaining the ideological rationale, Rubio said, “What started as a pragmatic framework of international organisations for peace and cooperation has morphed into a sprawling architecture of global governance, often dominated by progressive ideology and detached from national interests”.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did not have an immediate reaction to the Trump administration backing out of the organisations and entities.
Wednesday’s actions were the latest in Trump’s campaign against UN-related organisations.
Earlier, he ordered the US out of the cultural, educational and scientific institution UNESCO, the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, and the UN Human Rights Council.
Other UN organisations targeted include the offices of the secretary-general’s special representatives dealing with children in armed conflict, violence against children, and sexual violence in armed conflict.
Non-UN organisations on the chopping block include the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, and the International Solar Alliance.
