US to exit 66 international organizations in retreat from global cooperation
· The Gleaner(AP) - The Trump administration will withdraw the United States from dozens of international organisations, including the United Nations population agency and the UN treaty that establishes international climate negotiations.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order suspending US support for 66 organisations, agencies, and commissions, following his administration’s review of participation in and funding for all international organizations, including those affiliated with the United Nations, according to a White House release.
Many of the targets are UN-related agencies, commissions and advisory panels that focus on climate, labour, migration and other issues the Trump administration has categorised as catering to diversity and “woke” initiatives.
Other non-UN organisations on the list include the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, and the Global Counterterrorism Forum.
“The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, captured by the interests of actors advancing their own agendas contrary to our own, or a threat to our nation’s sovereignty, freedoms, and general prosperity,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
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Trump's decision to withdraw from organisations that foster cooperation among nations to address global challenges comes as his administration has launched military efforts or issued threats that have rattled allies and adversaries alike, including capturing autocratic Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and indicating an intention to take over Greenland.
The administration previously suspended support for agencies like the World Health Organization, the US agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, the UN Human Rights Council and the UN cultural agency UNESCO.
It has taken a larger, à la carte approach to paying dues to the world body, picking which operations and agencies it believes align with Trump’s agenda and those that no longer serve US interests.
“I think what we’re seeing is the crystallisation of the US approach to multilateralism, which is ‘my way or the highway,’” said Daniel Forti, head of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group. “It's a very clear vision of wanting international cooperation on Washington’s own terms.”
It has marked a major shift from how previous administrations — both Republican and Democratic — have dealt with the UN, and it has forced the world body, already undergoing its own internal reckoning, to respond with a series of staffing and program cuts.
Many independent nongovernmental agencies — some that work with the United Nations — have cited many project closures because of the US administration’s decision last year to slash foreign assistance through the US Agency for International Development, or USAID.
Despite the massive shift, Trump administration officials say they see the potential of the UN and want to instead focus taxpayer money on expanding American influence in many of the standard-setting UN initiatives where there is competition with China, like the International Telecommunications Union, the International Maritime Organization and the International Labor Organization.