Trump moves to withdraw US from UNESCO again

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has decided to withdraw the country from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. He explained this by its "anti-American" and "anti-Israeli" sentiments, as well as its "progressive" views.

It was reported by Reuters on Tuesday on July 22.

Trump decides to withdraw the US from UNESCO

The White House has not yet commented on this decision, as the request was received outside of office hours. However, the media have already spread information about the US withdrawal from the Paris-based Agency, established after World War II to promote peace and cooperation in education, science, and culture.

Earlier in Trump's first term, the United States withdrew from a number of important international organisations and agreements: The World Health Organization, the UN Human Rights Council, the global climate change agreement, and the nuclear deal with Iran. However, with Joe Biden's election in 2021, America has returned to most of them, including UNESCO and the WHO.

With Trump's return to the White House, the situation is changing again. In addition to withdrawing from UNESCO, he has already decided to withdraw from the World Health Organization and cut off funding for the Palestinian Relief Agency, UNRWA. All of these measures are part of a broad assessment of the United States' involvement in UN agencies, which is due to be completed in August.

UNESCO is widely known for its inclusion in the World Heritage List of sites such as the Grand Canyon in the United States and the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria. The United States was a founding member of the organisation in 1945, but withdrew for the first time in 1984 to protest financial irregularities and perceived anti-American bias. In 2003, under President George W. Bush, the United States returned to UNESCO, noting that the organisation had made the necessary reforms.

Today, the United States' share of UNESCO's budget is about 8%, while at the time of the first withdrawal under Trump, it was 20%. The decision to withdraw again reflects the desire of the United States administration to review and reduce its participation in international structures that it considers ineffective or inconsistent with national interests.

As a reminder, the President of China, Xi Jinping, plans to arrange the meeting with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin.