Trump's Bold Exit: U.S. Withdraws from 66 International Organizations – What It Means for Global Relations

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United States President Donald Trump is withdrawing the US from a foundational climate treaty and the world’s leading global warming assessment body, as part of a sweeping exit from the United Nations system, the White House announced on Wednesday.

A total of 66 international organisations — comprised of “35 non-United Nations (UN) organizations and 31 UN entities” were named in a White House memorandum as being “contrary to US national interests, security, economic prosperity, or sovereignty”.

Most notable among them is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements.

Trump, who has thrown the full weight of his domestic policy behind fossil fuels, has openly scorned the scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet, deriding climate science as a “hoax” at the UN’s high-level summit last September.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was established during the Rio Earth Summit in June 1992 and subsequently ratified by the United States Senate within the same year under the leadership of President George H.W. Bush.

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Rachel Cleetus from the Union of Concerned Scientists expressed to AFP that, “President Trump’s decision to exit the foundational global agreement aimed at combating climate change represents a significant setback. It further indicates that this administration, characterized by authoritarian tendencies and a disregard for scientific evidence, is willing to compromise public welfare and undermine international collaboration.”

The memo also directs the US to withdraw from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the UN body responsible for assessing climate science, alongside other climate-related organisations including the International Renewable Energy Agency, UN Oceans and UN Water.

As in his first term, Trump has also withdrawn the US from UNESCO — the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization — which the country had rejoined under Biden.

Trump has likewise pulled the US out of the World Health Organization and sharply reduced foreign aid, slashing funding for numerous UN agencies and forcing them to scale back operations on the ground, including the High Commissioner for Refugees and the World Food Programme.

Other prominent bodies named in the memo include the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which works on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which focuses on trade, investment and development.

Speaking before the General Assembly in September, Trump delivered a scathing broadside against the UN, saying it was “not even coming close to living up” to its potential.