President Donald Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from 66 international bodies, including 31 U.N. entities, among them the Register of Conventional Arms (UNRCA).
Since beginning his second term a year ago, Trump has sought to slash U.S. funding for the United Nations, stopped U.S. engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council, extended a halt to funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and quit the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO. He has also announced plans to quit the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement.
In a statement on Jan. 7, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the White House released the list of 66 entities it was cutting off, the organizations were “redundant, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, or poorly run,” and in some cases “captured by the interests of actors advancing agendas contrary to US national interests.” He added that continued participation in such bodies was incompatible with American sovereignty and prosperity.
The White House released a presidential memorandum directing U.S. agencies to cease participation and funding the list of organizations since they are wasteful spending with a focus on globalist agendas.
Withdrawal from the UNRCA means the U.S. will stop reporting arms transfers and other related data to this UN mechanism for transparency in conventional arms.
In essence, the Trump administration in 2026 is formally disengaging from the UNRCA and signaling a reduction in U.S. participation in global arms transparency efforts and international governance structures.
The move follows earlier withdrawals from UNESCO, the WHO, the UN Human Rights Council as well as dozens added to list on Wednesday.
The withdrawal from some bodies, like the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is significant as they involve ratified treaties, raising questions about legal processes and international commitments.
The United Nations says that beyond the social media announcement from the United States government on Jan. 7 about its withdrawal from 66 international and UN entities, the information has not been officially communicated to the world body. Washington has also not followed the legal process required for a country to dissociate from binding international treaties it has signed and ratified, such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The decision by the US to cut ties to 66 international organizations, treaties and UN entities was apparently a result of a review conducted under Executive Order 14199, one of the wideranging executive orders signed by Trump in February 2025.