Do as you are told, obey your “legal obligation” and keep sending U.S. taxpayer dollars. That was the message delivered Thursday to the Trump administration from U.N. headquarters in Manhattan, New York City, in the hours after the White House announced it is withdrawing billions in financial support from 66 organizations affiliated with the globalist entity.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, a former Portuguese Socialist Party leader and prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, said he regretted President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the U.N.-related agencies but no avenue exists for it to stop paying its dues.
These include the U.N.’s population agency and the U.N. treaty that establishes international climate negotiations, AP reports.
The U.S. also intends to exit dozens of other global organizations or initiatives not affiliated with the U.N. but still reliant on massive U.S. funding, as Breitbart News reported.
“As we have consistently underscored, assessed contributions to the United Nations regular budget and peacekeeping budget, as approved by the General Assembly, are a legal obligation under the U.N. Charter for all Member States, including the United States,” Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for Guterres, said in a statement before reaffirming the U.S. cannot withdraw its funding.
“All United Nations entities will go on with the implementation of their mandates as given by member states.”
As Breitbart News reported, the Trump administration announced Wednesday it’s taking U.S. taxpayer dollars away from 66 globalist organizations, nearly half of them affiliated with the United Nations and all of which are identified as “contrary to the interests of the United States.”
Most notable is the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the parent treaty underpinning all major international climate agreements.
The treaty adopted in 1992 is a global pact by nations to cooperate to drive down planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of so-called “climate change.”
Trump, who has thrown the full weight of his domestic policy behind fossil fuels, has openly scorned speculation human activity is warming the planet, deriding it as a “hoax.”
His administration sent no representative to the most recent U.N. climate summit in Brazil in November, which is held every year under the auspices of the UNFCCC.
Now Trump is making sure U.S. taxpayer dollars are no longer spent at the discretion of the U.N. and its associated globalist affiliates.
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Wednesday’s announcement surprised diplomats at the highest levels of the U.N., who said they learned about the withdrawal through news reports and the White House social media.
There has been no formal communication from the Trump administration outlining the decision, the AP report notes.
Among the organizations targeted by the White House are the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA, the U.N. Human Rights Council and the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO.
The U.S. also is withdrawing from and ceasing all participation in the U.N.’s regional commissions for the Asia-Pacific, Western Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean regions, UPI reports.
Trump previously suspended support for the Geneva, Switzerland-based World Health Organization (W.H.O.).
The U.S. is the single largest contributor to the overall U.N. annual budget and remains the host country for its main headquarters situated on 17 to 18 acres of grounds in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City.
The U.S. billions (currently) distributed annually to the U.N. system cover assessed fees (around $820+ million for the 2025 regular budget) and significant voluntary funding, totaling roughly $13 billion in 2023 across all U.N. entities, with major shares going to the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNHCR, though exact figures vary yearly by Congress and administration.
All that will now be reassessed.
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