Disengaging from the United Nations and other international organizations diminishes our ability to shape global efforts to curb drug trafficking, the spread of diseases, environmental harm, and other transnational threats to Americans. Ceding U.S. leadership at these organizations also gives our adversaries and competitors opportunities to advance their own agendas at our expense. Sustained U.S. engagement is needed to secure our interests and ensure that individual rights and the rule of law remain at the heart of international organizations.
Call on Congress to support enhanced U.S. leadership at the UN and other international organizations and to support investments in the UN regular and peacekeeping budgets and specialized agencies.
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Since returning to office, President Trump has made retreat from the UN a centerpiece of his “America First” foreign policy agenda, as starkly demonstrated during a recent UN General Assembly speech where he attacked the body and its members. Stoking cynical arguments about the fairness of UN dues, perceived bias in UN bodies, and frustration with institutional drift and accountability, his administration has set out to scale back involvement in key UN bodies and slash funding across the board.
Through various Executive Orders and unilateral moves, President Trump has withdrawn the United States from the World Health Organization, UN Human Rights Council, UNESCO, and the Paris Climate Agreement. The administration has also slashed contributions to UN programs, with funding falling to less than half of prior levels and contributing to an acute crisis at the UN. So far, Congress has failed to push back on, and in some cases explicitly approved, these cuts.
The impact of the reduced funding is equally real. Deep cuts to the World Food Program and the UN High Commissioner on Refugees have led to the termination of programs providing food, clean water, medicines, and emergency shelter to crisis zones: 11.6 million refugees, including 2 million sheltering in Uganda, are at risk of losing access to basic humanitarian assistance, setting up the potential for a cascading migration emergency.
