Trump Orders U.S. Withdrawal From 66 International Organizations

President Donald Trump on Wednesday directed federal agencies to withdraw from 66 international organizations, saying that remaining a member of them is “contrary to the interests of the United States.” The presidential memorandum, dated Jan. 7 and addressed to the heads of executive departments and agencies, covers 35 organizations outside the U.N. system and 31 U.N. entities, according to the White House text and Al Jazeera.

The memorandum builds on Executive Order 14199, signed Feb. 4, 2025, which ordered a State Department review of U.S. memberships, funding and treaty commitments. After considering the secretary of state’s report and consulting the Cabinet, Trump determined that membership in or support for the listed bodies is contrary to U.S. interests, the memo says, and it tells agencies to take “immediate steps to effectuate the withdrawal.” For U.N. entities, withdrawal means ceasing participation and funding “to the extent permitted by law.” The memo gives no reasoning beyond the president’s determination.

The list mixes climate, development, democracy and technical bodies. The White House memo names non-U.N. organizations including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the International Renewable Energy Agency, the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, the International Tropical Timber Organization, the International Cotton Advisory Committee and the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe. Among the U.N. entities are the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Law Commission, the U.N. Population Fund and the U.N. University. Al Jazeera reported that the United States remains in the U.N. Security Council, the World Food Programme and the U.N. refugee agency.

The State Department said the institutions were “redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run,” according to NBC News; the Associated Press, in a report carried by CBS News, attributed those words to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The AP reported that officials want to focus funding on U.N. standard-setting bodies where the United States competes with China, such as the International Telecommunications Union, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization. The reasoning echoes a long-standing argument on the political right that multilateral bodies cost American taxpayers money, dilute national decision-making and pursue goals the public never approved.

Critics were sharp. Gina McCarthy, a former White House national climate adviser, called the decision “shortsighted, embarrassing, and a foolish decision,” the AP reported. Daniel Forti of the International Crisis Group described the approach as “my way or the highway,” and Stanford climate scientist Rob Jackson warned that it “gives other nations the excuse to delay their own actions and commitments,” according to the AP. The climate convention is a 1992 treaty among 198 countries that underlies the Paris Agreement, the AP said, and Trump had already withdrawn from Paris after returning to office.

The administration previously suspended support for the World Health Organization, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, the U.N. Human Rights Council and UNESCO, the AP reported. Al Jazeera reported on Thursday that U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric expressed regret on behalf of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and said assessed contributions to the U.N.’s regular and peacekeeping budgets are “a legal obligation under the UN Charter.”

The memo says the withdrawals are to proceed “consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations,” and that it creates no enforceable rights. It also directs the secretary of state to publish the memo in the Federal Register.