WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has withdrawn the US from over 60 international organisations, including UN bodies and the India-France-led International Solar Alliance, calling the institutions “redundant” and “contrary” to America’s interests.
Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum titled ‘Withdrawing the United States from International Organisations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States’.
After signing, Trump said he has determined that it is “contrary” to the interests of the US to remain a member of, participate in, or otherwise provide support to the 66 UN and Non-United Nations organisations. This includes 31 UN entities, as well as 35 non-UN organisations “that operate contrary to US national interests, security, economic prosperity, or sovereignty,” according to a White House fact sheet.
Trump directed all executive departments and agencies to take immediate steps to put into effect the withdrawal of the US from the organisations “as soon as possible”.
He added that for UN entities, withdrawal means ceasing participation in or funding to those entities to the extent permitted by law.
The list of organisations includes the International Solar Alliance, a collaborative initiative between India and France aimed at uniting efforts to combat climate change by implementing solar energy solutions.
Headquartered in India, the ISA was launched at COP21 in Paris in 2015 and has expanded its membership scope to include all UN member states.
Currently, over 100 countries are signatories to the ISA, with more than 90 countries having ratified to become full members.
Its mission is to unlock $1 trillion in solar investments by 2030 while reducing technology and financing costs. A UN spokesperson said they have seen the full list of organisations from which the Trump administration is withdrawing the US and will provide a comment later.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said his country “will no longer fund or participate in international organisations that do not serve, or in many cases work counter to, American interests.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump Administration has found the 66 institutions to be “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.”