President Donald Trump administration directed the United States to withdraw from 66 international organizations, marking one of the most sweeping retreats from global institutions in modern American history and fulfilling his campaign promise to reassert American sovereignty.
The move, announced through a presidential memorandum, targets entities ranging from UN climate bodies to democracy promotion groups that the administration has deemed “wasteful, ineffective, or harmful” to American interests.
“I have determined that it is contrary to the interests of the United States to remain a member of, participate in, or otherwise provide support to the organizations listed in section 2 of this memorandum,” Trump wrote in the directive issued.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed the president’s concerns in a forceful statement, declaring: “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. The days of billions of dollars in taxpayer money flowing to foreign interests at the expense of our people are over.”
The withdrawal list includes 31 UN entities and 35 non-UN organizations.
Among the most prominent are the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and the International Renewable Energy Agency, signaling a dramatic shift away from multilateral climate cooperation.
Also targeted for exit: UN Women (the Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women), the UN Population Fund, and multiple UN economic commissions serving Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East.
The directive stems from Executive Order 14199, which Trump issued in February 2025, mandating a comprehensive review of all international organizations receiving U.S. funding or participation.
In his memorandum, Trump noted that he had “considered the Secretary of State’s report and, after deliberating with my Cabinet,” reached his conclusions.
Significantly, Trump indicated the purge may not be finished.
“My review of further findings of the Secretary of State remains ongoing,” he wrote, suggesting additional withdrawals could be forthcoming.
The president ordered all executive departments and agencies to “take immediate steps to effectuate the withdrawal of the United States from the organizations listed” as soon as legally possible.
In his statement, Rubio framed the withdrawals as a rejection of an overreaching international system that has strayed from its original mission.
“What started as a pragmatic framework of international organizations for peace and cooperation has morphed into a sprawling architecture of global governance, often dominated by progressive ideology and detached from national interests,” the Secretary of State said.
Rubio specifically criticized what he described as institutional overreach: “From DEI mandates to ‘gender equity’ campaigns to climate orthodoxy, many international organizations now serve a globalist project rooted in the discredited fantasy of the ‘End of History.’ These organizations actively seek to constrain American sovereignty.”
The administration linked the withdrawals to its broader foreign policy overhaul, with Rubio noting that the work of these organizations “is advanced by the same elite networks—the multilateral ‘NGO-plex’—that we have begun dismantling through the closure of USAID.”
The Trump administration has characterized the targeted organizations as “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 sweeping nature of the pullout extends beyond climate and gender-focused bodies to include counterterrorism forums, cultural preservation groups, and even technical cooperation bodies.
The withdrawal list encompasses the Global Counterterrorism Forum, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, the Freedom Online Coalition, and the Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories.
Among the UN bodies slated for U.S. exit are offices focused on children in conflict zones, sexual violence prevention, and violence against children, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children in Armed Conflict, the Office of the Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and the Office of the Special Representative on Violence Against Children.
Also on the list: the UN Democracy Fund, the Peacebuilding Commission and Fund, UN Conference on Trade and Development, and various UN training and research institutes.
Rubio laid out the administration’s philosophy going forward: “We will not continue expending resources, diplomatic capital, and the legitimizing weight of our participation in institutions that are irrelevant to or in conflict with our interests. We reject inertia and ideology in favor of prudence and purpose. We seek cooperation where it serves our people and will stand firm where it does not.”
The memorandum specifies that for UN entities, withdrawal means ceasing participation in or funding to those entities to the extent permitted by law, and that implementation will be consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
The State Department will provide additional implementation guidance to federal agencies as the withdrawals proceed, according to the directive.
