The US announced Tuesday that it would withdraw from the UN’s cultural and educational agency, UNESCO, at the end of next year, the Trump administration’s latest move to distance itself from international institutions.
A White House spokesperson cited the agency’s “woke, divisive cultural and social causes,” as a reason for the withdrawal.
UNESCO’s head said the move came as no surprise: It echoes US President Donald Trump’s first-term strategy of rejecting multilateral institutions, including the World Health Organization, the UN Human Rights Council, a global climate accord, and the Iran nuclear deal.
The decision could hand a win to China, which has been making efforts to capitalize on Trump’s disdain for multilateralism by expanding its influence within the UN, Western diplomats told the Financial Times.