President Trump withdrew the United States on Wednesday from dozens of international organizations intended to foster multinational cooperation, cutting ties with a wide range of prominent forums addressing international security, law, trade, economics and human rights.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio listed several reasons for the simultaneous withdrawal from so many international organizations, many of which are part of the United Nations. Pointing to waste, mismanagement and redundancy, Mr. Rubio more broadly suggested in his statement that the international influence gained from sending U.S. representatives to these organizations was ultimately not worth the effort.
“It is no longer acceptable to be sending these institutions the blood, sweat and treasure of the American people, with little to nothing to show for it,” Mr. Rubio said, asserting that many of the organizations were “dominated by progressive ideology,” including gender equality and climate change. In trumpeting the withdrawal, Mr. Rubio suggested that it was in line with the Trump administration’s decision to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The United Nations did not immediately comment on the United States’ severing relationships with some of its organizations.
An executive order, signed by Mr. Trump on Wednesday, follows a broader vision of American foreign policy that shuns the consensus of nations and building coalitions, focusing almost solely on projecting American power and dominance.
But Mr. Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from international bodies stands out even when compared with the actions of other regional and world powers that are skeptical of international agreements on democracy, climate or human rights. Biden administration officials had argued that a withdrawal from those bodies would create a vacuum for U.S. rivals to exploit.
For example, China and Russia are both members of the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the International Energy Forum and the International Renewable Energy Agency, as well as the U.N.’s International Law Commission, Peacebuilding Commission, Alliance of Civilizations and the Register of Conventional Arms. The United States withdrew from all of them on Wednesday.
Many of the organizations listed in Mr. Trump’s executive order also do not appear to require direct membership from nations, but the move seemed to signal more broadly that the Trump administration was likely to refuse to cooperate with them.
Mr. Trump has already pulled the United States out of many significant U.N. organizations, including UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural agency; the World Health Organization; and the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Edward Wong and Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting.
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
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