Trump Orders US Exit From UNESCO, Reversing Biden-Era Reentry

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times,

The United States will withdraw from the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) by the end of 2026, the State Department confirmed on July 22, citing ideological differences and what it described as an anti-Israel bias and “globalist” agenda out of step with U.S. foreign policy.

“Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.

She said the agency advances “divisive social and cultural causes” and prioritizes the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals—an agenda she called “globalist” and at odds with the Trump administration’s America First foreign policy.

The United States delivered a formal notice of its withdrawal to UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay on July 22, according to Bruce.

The move, carried out under Article II(6) of the organization’s constitution, is set to take effect on Dec. 31, 2026. Until that date, the United States will continue to participate as a full member.

This marks the third time the United States has withdrawn from the Paris-based agency, and the second time under President Donald Trump. The United States last withdrew from UNESCO in 2017 during Trump’s first term, citing anti-Israel bias. It rejoined in 2023 under President Joe Biden, who argued the move was necessary to counter China’s growing influence in the organization.

However, a 2023 report from Washington-based Uyghur Human Rights Project found that UNESCO was “complicit” in the Chinese regime’s atrocities against Uyghurs and their culture by remaining silent and even providing cover for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

White House deputy spokesperson Anna Kelly said that the decision to withdraw from UNESCO reflects Trump’s broader commitment to reevaluating international memberships through the lens of U.S. national interests.

“President Trump has decided to withdraw the United States from UNESCO – which supports woke, divisive cultural and social causes,” Kelly stated in a post on X on July 22.

“The President will always put America First. Our membership in all international organizations must align with our national interests.”

In her statement, Bruce reiterated U.S. opposition to UNESCO’s 2011 decision to admit “Palestine” as a member state, calling it “highly problematic” and a contributor to “the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization.”

The Reagan administration first pulled the United States out of UNESCO in 1984 over concerns about mismanagement and pro-Soviet bias. The United States rejoined in 2003 under the Bush administration, only to suspend funding in 2011 following the “Palestine” vote.

The Biden administration had requested $150 million in the 2024 federal budget to resume dues and begin repaying more than $600 million in arrears. U.S. contributions once accounted for 22 percent of UNESCO’s operating budget.

Alex Newman, investigative journalist and Epoch Times contributor, reported in 2020 that multiple senior U.S. officials and analysts have expressed grave concerns about what they described as a CCP “takeover” of the United Nations and its agencies, including UNESCO.

“I don’t think UNESCO is fixable,” former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Kevin Moley told The Epoch Times at the time.

Moley said that the agency’s policymaking had “largely been taken over by the CCP and its allies,” while describing the CCP takeover of the U.N. as “the greatest existential threat to our republic since its founding.”