Following the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from dozens of United Nations and other international organizations, experts say more international bodies could soon find themselves on the chopping block.
The announcement that the US would do that exit 66 international organizations was a response to President Donald Trump’s February 2025 executive order calling for a review of U.S. support for “all international organizations.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in response to the announcement that the US “rejects an outdated model of multilateralism – one that treats the American taxpayer as the world’s underwriter of a vast architecture of global governance.” Rubio warned that the State Department continues to assess international organizations, and that those affected by January’s cuts are “certainly not the only offenders.”
Rubio said the U.S. is not turning its back on the world but is looking to overhaul the “international system,” which he said is now “overrun by hundreds of opaque international organizations, many with overlapping mandates, duplication of actions, ineffective results and poor financial and ethical governance.”
UN DESTROYED FOR FUNDING COMMITTEE ‘DESIGNED TO DESTROY THE JEWISH STATE,’ DESPITE BUDGET CRISIS
US President Donald Trump during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, US, on Tuesday, September 23, 2025. (David Dee Delgado/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Dugan said Guterres “shredded budgets, hitting bone and flesh as hard as fat, but fundamentally it was business as usual: no focus on the UN’s pitiful return on investment.” Instead of just cutting back on profits, he should also have grown turnover by working smarter on new efficiency improvements.’
Launched in March 2025, the UN80 initiative aimed to identify inefficiencies within the UN system and reduce costs within a sprawling bureaucracy. In response to Trump’s withdrawal from UN entities, Guterres’ spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement that the secretary general “regrets the White House’s announcement” and stated that “assessed contributions to the regular budget and the peacekeeping budget of the United Nations … are a legal obligation under the UN Charter for all Member States, including the United States.”
For the 31 U.N.-affiliated groups on the list, Schaefer said the withdrawal order is “an opportunity to signal to the U.N. where the United States would like to see consolidation or elimination of duplication, which is quite widespread within the U.N. system.”
RUBIO SLAMS UNRWA AS A ‘SUBSIDIARY OF HAMAS’, PROMISES IT WILL NOT ‘PLAY ANY ROLE’ IN PROVIDING AID TO GAZA
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attends a United Nations Security Council ministerial meeting on Ukraine at UN Headquarters in New York on September 23, 2025. (Charly Tribelleau/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Schaefer said the withdrawal from the UN Population Fund and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change was “very consistent with the policies of the Trump administration.” Schaefer also indicated that the withdrawal from the UN Trade and Development Council (UNCTAD) was a formalization of the policy change that took place in 2018 when UNCTAD admitted that “Palestinians are a full member state” and that US law “provides[ed] US funding” for the organization.
Other choices, such as leaving the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “didn’t quite make sense,” Schaefer said. He noted that the department is funded from the regular UN budget, making this move “more of a signal than actually an effective policy.”
Future Cutting Rounds
Schaefer noted that several organizations, including the World Meteorological Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Development Program, could be subject to budget cuts in the future.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with UN Secretary General António Guterres during his first presidency at UN Headquarters in New York, September 23, 2019, during his first term. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images))
While smaller countries use the UNDP to manage their humanitarian donations, the U.S. doesn’t need a “middleman” to fund nongovernmental organizations and provide aid, Schaefer said. He also noted that the organization “has had a problem with corruption,” including hiding North Korean counterfeit money and providing the country with dual-use technology.
Schaefer said the U.S. “can promote agricultural development in developing countries” through entities outside the FAO, which he said are “currently led by a Chinese national” who is “using that organization to advance Chinese policies and commercial interests in developing countries.”
On December 31, UNOCHA signed a memo “sharply critical of Israel,” Schaefer said. Schaefer believes the memo constituted “a violation of their neutrality” that should lead to a reprimand. Schaefer said Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher “has made repeated statements repeating false allegations that Israel is causing famine and other humanitarian suffering in Gaza, which have since been proven to be false and without basis.”
WIPO, WMO and FAO declined to comment on whether they could be targeted for future cuts.
TRUMP PULLS US OUT OF DISCONNECTED MIGRATION FORUM IN GREAT IMMIGRATION MOVEMENT
The United Nations building is pictured in New York City, USA, February 23, 2023. (Mike Segar/Reuters/File Photo)
A UNDP spokesperson said the US “has been a steadfast partner” and that it remains committed to working with the US to “address urgent humanitarian needs, promote stability and advance prosperity globally.” The spokesperson noted that “UNDP projects are subject to strict oversight and accountability policies and mechanisms,” with UNDP “consistently ranked[ing] are among the most transparent organizations listed in the [Aid Transparency Index.]
According to the UNDP spokesperson, “no evidence of systematic fraud or misappropriation of funds was found” when concerns involving the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were investigated in 2006. The spokesperson said the North Korean project “was completed in 2020. Any future engagement would require consensus from the UNDP Executive Board and clear guidance from member states.”
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A UNOCHA spokesperson noted that the US had just signed an agreement with UNOCHA “that strengthens our partnership.”
