The sweeping changes will see the United States withdraw from key forums for cooperation on climate change, peace, and democracy.
US President Donald Trump has announced plans to withdraw the United States from 66 United Nations and international organizations, including major cooperative forums on climate change, peace, and democracy.
In a presidential memo shared by the White House on Wednesday night, Trump said the decision was made after reviewing “organizations, agreements, and agreements that are contrary to the interests of the United States.”
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The change would suspend U.S. participation and cut all funding to affected groups, Trump added.
The list shared by the White House included 35 non-UN agencies, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, among others.
Although included on the list of non-UN agencies by the White House, the IPCC is a United Nations organization that brings together top scientists to evaluate the evidence on climate change and provides regular scientific assessments to inform political leaders.
In addition, the White House announced that it would withdraw from 31 UN agencies, including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN’s highest climate change treaty body, the United Nations Democratic Fund, and UNFPA, the UN’s top maternal and child health agency.
Some of the UN agencies targeted were focused on protecting groups at risk from violence during war, such as the Office of the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in situations of armed conflict.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a note to correspondents on Wednesday evening that the U.N. expected to respond to the announcement by Thursday morning.
Despite publicly claiming that he wants the United States to reduce its involvement in UN forums, President Trump has not shied away from influencing decision-making at the international level.
Last October, President Trump threatened to impose sanctions on diplomats who formally adopted a tax on dirty ship fuel that had already been agreed upon at an earlier meeting, effectively freezing the deal for 12 months.
The Trump administration also imposed sanctions on UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who published a report documenting the role of international and US companies in Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
Trump also threatened in 2017 to cut aid from countries that voted in favor of a draft UN resolution condemning the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council and one of only five countries that can veto measures it dislikes, the United States also wields considerable power at the United Nations, a power it repeatedly used to block Israel’s efforts to end the war in Gaza until brokering a ceasefire late last year.
Since beginning his second term last January, President Trump has already withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Paris Climate Accord, and the United Nations Human Rights Council.
President Trump also withdrew from these three organizations during his first administration, but all withdrawals were later reversed by the administration of former US President Joe Biden.
The US withdrawal from the WHO is scheduled to take effect on January 22, 2026, one year after the White House order.
In 2024-2025, the United States provided $261 million in funding to the WHO, representing approximately 18% of the funding the organization receives for its work promoting global cooperation on a wide range of urgent health issues, including pandemics such as tuberculosis and COVID-19.
The Trump administration is also continuing a ban on U.S. funding to UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, begun under the Biden administration.
