U.S. to Withdraw from 66 International Organizations Following Trump Administration Review
State Department says move targets institutions deemed wasteful, ideologically driven, or misaligned with U.S. national interests.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — The United States will withdraw from 66 international organizations after a Trump administration review concluded that the bodies are wasteful, ineffective, or contrary to American sovereignty and national interests, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Tuesday.
In a press statement dated January 7, Rubio said the decision was taken in accordance with Executive Order 14199, which mandates a comprehensive assessment of U.S. participation in international institutions. The review of additional organizations is ongoing, he added.
“The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, or captured by interests advancing agendas contrary to our own,” Rubio said.
President Donald Trump, he added, has made clear that “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.”
According to the State Department, the withdrawals reflect a broader shift away from what it described as a “sprawling architecture of global governance” that has drifted from its original purpose of pragmatic cooperation.
Rubio argued that many organizations are now dominated by progressive ideology, citing initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, gender equity, and climate policy, which the administration views as detached from U.S. national priorities.
"Today, President Trump announced the U.S. is leaving 66 anti-American, useless, or wasteful international organizations. Review of additional international organizations remains ongoing," Rubio wrote on X on Thursday.
"These withdrawals keep a key promise President Trump made to Americans - we will stop subsidizing globalist bureaucrats who act against our interests. The Trump Administration will always put America and Americans first," he added.
The list of organizations from which the United States will withdraw spans a wide range of policy areas, including climate and environmental governance, development assistance, energy, democracy promotion, and multilateral diplomacy.
Among them are the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and UN Women.
Several UN-affiliated bodies are also affected, including multiple commissions under the UN Economic and Social Council, the UN Population Fund, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, and the Peacebuilding Commission and Fund.
Other withdrawals include organizations focused on migration, biodiversity, cyber expertise, counterterrorism cooperation, and electoral assistance.
Rubio said continued U.S. participation in such institutions would amount to legitimizing bodies that are either irrelevant to U.S. interests or actively in conflict with them.
“We reject inertia and ideology in favor of prudence and purpose,” he said, adding that Washington would continue to seek international cooperation only where it directly benefits the American people.
The announcement marks one of the most sweeping rollbacks of U.S. engagement with multilateral institutions in recent decades and underscores the administration’s emphasis on national sovereignty and bilateral engagement over broad-based global governance frameworks.