Trump Once Again Withdraws United States from UNESCO

Trump Once Again Withdraws United States from UNESCO

The administration of President Donald J. Trump on July 22 announced that the US would pull out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, orUNESCO, which preserves 1,200World Heritage sites, including thebirthplace of Jesusin Palestine,Machu Picchuin Peru, theTaj Mahalin India, and theGrand Canyonin the US. This is the second time the Trump administration has withdrawn from the Paris-based agency, having also ended US participation during his first term in office. The US had rejoined UNESCO in 2023 under former president Joseph Biden over concerns that its absence was allowing China, among other countries, increased influence over the organization’s global standards.

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce in astatementcited UNESCO’s perceived support for “divisive social and cultural causes” as behind the withdrawal and cast the organization’s promotion of the UN’sSustainable Development Goals, which include stamping out poverty and hunger, as part of a “globalist, ideological agenda for international development” that clashes with the Trump administration’s America First foreign policy. Bruce also named UNESCO’s 2011 decision to admit Palestine as a member state as behind the pullout, saying that it “contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization.”

In a statement posted to the agency’s website, UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay rebutted accusations that the organization fomented antisemitism, noting that “UNESCO has supported 85 countries in implementing tools and training teachers to educate students about the Holocaust and genocides, and to combat Holocaust denial and hate speech.” Calling the US decision to withdraw “regrettable,” Azoulay said that UNESCO had been prepared for this eventuality, having diversified its funding streams and increased its budget through contributions from member states and private donors, which have doubled since 2018, following Trump’s first pullout.