US to exit dozens more international organisations
The US is retreating further from global co-operation, suspending support for more than 60 organisations including UN-related bodies on climate and labour.
The Trump administration will withdraw from dozens of international organisations, including the UN’s population agency and the UN treaty that establishes international climate negotiations, as the US further retreats from global co-operation.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order suspending US support for 66 organisations, agencies and commissions following his instructions for his administration to review participation in and funding for all international organisations, including those affiliated with the United Nations, according to a White House statement on social media.
Most of the targets are UN-related agencies, commissions and advisory panels that focus on climate, labour and other issues that the Trump administration has categorised as catering to diversity and “woke” initiatives.
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“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,” the State Department said in a statement.
Trump’s decision to withdraw from organisations that foster co-operation 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 from agencies like the World Health Organisation, the UN for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, the UN Human Rights Council and the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO.
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It has taken a larger, a-la-carte approach to paying its dues to the world body, picking which operations and agencies they believe align with Trump’s agenda and those which no longer serve US interests.
“I think what we’re seeing is the crystallisation of the U.S. approach to multilateralism, which is ‘my way or the highway’,” International Crisis Group senior UN analyst Daniel Forti said.
“It’s a very clear vision of wanting international cooperation on Washington’s own terms.”
– AAP
