One presidential memorandum. Sixty-six organizations. Billions of dollars in funding — gone.
President Trump signed the order this week, directing immediate withdrawal from 35 non-UN organizations and cessation of participation in 31 UN entities. The State Department review concluded these groups are “redundant,” “mismanaged,” “wasteful,” or actively working against American interests.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio put it bluntly: “The days of billions of dollars in taxpayer money flowing to foreign interests at the expense of our people are over.”
The globalist establishment just lost its American ATM.
“Anti-American, Useless, or Wasteful”
That’s how Rubio described the 66 organizations on the chopping block.
The list includes groups focused on climate, energy, development, governance, migration, and gender policy — the full spectrum of progressive international priorities that American taxpayers have been funding for decades.
Some of these organizations most Americans have never heard of. Others are household names in diplomatic circles. All of them share one thing: they’ve been collecting American money while advancing agendas that often conflict with American interests.
Rubio’s assessment was damning: these institutions are “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.”
In other words: they took our money and used it against us.
Immediate Implementation
This isn’t a gradual phase-out. The memorandum directs “immediate steps to effectuate the withdrawals as soon as possible.”
Executive departments and agencies must cease participation and funding to the extent permitted by law. For UN entities, that means American representatives stop showing up and American checks stop clearing.
The bureaucratic machinery that’s kept these organizations funded through inertia and institutional habit is being overridden by direct presidential order.
Some withdrawals will face legal complications. Treaties and agreements don’t dissolve overnight. But the direction is clear: get out, stop paying, and don’t look back.
The State Department Review
This didn’t happen on a whim. Trump ordered the review earlier this year under Executive Order 14199, tasking Secretary Rubio with evaluating which international organizations actually serve American interests.
The answer, apparently, was: not many.
Rubio’s team examined organizational missions, effectiveness, management, and alignment with U.S. policy. Sixty-six failed the test. More reviews are ongoing — suggesting additional withdrawals may follow.
The foreign policy establishment will scream that America is “abandoning its global leadership.” But leadership that consists of writing checks to organizations that undermine you isn’t leadership. It’s subsidized self-destruction.
“Blood, Sweat, and Treasure”
Rubio’s statement included a phrase that captures the frustration many Americans feel: “It is no longer acceptable to be sending these institutions the blood, sweat, and treasure of the American people, with little to nothing to show for it.”
What have American taxpayers gotten for decades of funding international climate bureaucracies? Higher energy costs and lectures about our carbon footprint.
What have we gotten for funding migration organizations? Pressure to accept more refugees while our own border collapsed.
What have we gotten for funding gender policy groups? Propaganda about “menstruating persons” and attacks on traditional values.
The return on investment has been negative. We paid billions and got ideology imposed on us in return.
The Sovereignty Question
At its core, this is about who makes decisions for America.
International organizations increasingly see themselves as governing bodies with authority over member states. They issue directives, establish standards, and pressure compliance — all while being accountable to no electorate.
American participation legitimizes that authority. American funding enables it. American diplomats sitting in those meetings validates the premise that unelected international bureaucrats have a say in American policy.
Trump is rejecting that premise. America will cooperate where cooperation serves American interests. But membership in organizations that exist to constrain American sovereignty? That’s over.
The Climate Complex
Climate organizations are heavily represented on the exit list.
This follows Trump’s earlier withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement and signals a comprehensive rejection of the international climate regime.
These organizations have pushed policies that would devastate American energy production, raise consumer costs, and transfer wealth to developing nations — all based on models that have consistently failed to predict actual climate outcomes.
American withdrawal doesn’t mean America stops caring about the environment. It means America stops subordinating its energy policy to bureaucrats in Geneva and activists who think the solution to every problem is less American prosperity.
Migration and Development
Migration-focused organizations are also on the list.
These groups have consistently pressured Western nations to accept more migrants, resisted border enforcement, and framed immigration restriction as human rights violations.
American taxpayers have been funding organizations that lobby against American immigration policy. That’s not international cooperation — that’s paying for your own opposition research.
Development organizations face similar scrutiny. Decades of foreign aid have produced little measurable improvement in recipient countries while creating dependency relationships that benefit consultants and bureaucrats more than the poor.
What Remains
Not every international organization is being abandoned. Trump is withdrawing from 66, not all.
The administration’s framework is clear: “We seek cooperation where it serves our people and will stand firm where it does not.”
Organizations that genuinely advance American interests — security alliances, trade bodies, technical cooperation — presumably survive. Organizations that exist primarily to constrain American power or advance progressive ideology do not.
That’s a rational foreign policy. Participate where participation helps. Withdraw where it doesn’t. Stop pretending all international engagement is inherently valuable.
The Reaction
The foreign policy establishment will be apoplectic. Op-eds about “American retreat” are already being drafted. European allies will issue concerned statements. UN officials will warn of dire consequences.
Let them.
These organizations have had decades to demonstrate their value. They’ve demonstrated instead that they’re captured by interests hostile to American prosperity, sovereignty, and values.
Trump is calling their bluff. Survive without American money if you can. Prove your worth to someone else’s taxpayers.
The Bottom Line
Sixty-six international organizations lost their American funding source Wednesday.
The State Department determined they were anti-American, useless, wasteful, or all three. The President agreed. The withdrawal orders are signed.
This is what “America First” looks like in practice. Not isolation — targeted disengagement from institutions that don’t serve American interests.
The globalists built their bureaucratic empire on the assumption that American participation and funding were permanent entitlements.
They assumed wrong.