Trump pulls US out of 66 global bodies, opening door for China

These are the likely fallout:

• WHO: The US withdrawal  was initiated on January 20, 2025, the first day of the Trump 2.0 administration, and it is set to be fully effective by January 22, 2026. This means significant funding cuts since the US was the largest donor. It is going to impact preparedness for future pandemics and disease surveillance. The funding cut will also impact major health programmes, from HIV/AIDS to malaria, in developing countries, including India.
• UNESCO: While a formal notice of exit was given in July 2025, it is expected to create a funding gap and a leadership vacuum that countries like China may fill to promote their own agenda. The US withdrawal means less financial support for global heritage and education programmes, impacting sites and initiatives worldwide.
• UNHRC: With the US withdrawal ordered in early 2025, it reduces Washington’s ability to steer and shape discussions on human rights, international law. It also means that other countries, like China and Russia, and others can ignore the UNHRC mandate and strike at the heart of global guardrails.
• UNRWA: As the US suspended all funding and support for the Palestinian relief agency in February 2025, it will reduce the organisation’s capacity to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinian people in Gaza. India has been a regular contributor to the funding of UNRWA, and it may need to step up its funding. But that too is fraught with diplomatic challenges since Israel views UNRWA with suspicion and accuses it of collusion with Hamas.

Trump’s decision Thursday targeted over 60 organisations, broadly in two major baskets.

The first comprises groupings that deal with climate and environment. The US becomes the first country to exit the foundational treaties of global climate action.

While the US withdrew from the Paris Agreement on Day 1 of Trump’s second term, the withdrawal from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will have a cumulative impact, resulting in a slowdown in global climate efforts. Being a major historical emitter, the US withdrawal is a significant setback to collective global efforts to reduce emissions and limit warming to 1.5°C. It may provide an excuse for other nations to slow their own climate actions. The US will no longer contribute its share to climate finance for developing countries, creating funding gaps for clean energy and adaptation projects.

It also means loss of influence as the US cedes its seat at the table in shaping future international climate policies and trade rules, leaving US companies potentially exposed to foreign climate-linked trade measures.

Washington’s withdrawal from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is expected to undermine science and lead to data and research gaps. The US exit from the primary scientific body which assesses climate science for policymakers signals a disregard for consensus science and marginalises US scientists from the core global assessment process.

It is likely to hinder collaborative research and the aggregation of data that is vital for accurate climate predictions and national planning in all countries, including India.

The impact of the US exiting International Solar Alliance (ISA), the India-headquartered global initiative, is going to have an adverse financial impact, loss of expertise and influence and a symbolic setback for the initiative. It signals loss of potential investment and financial contributions, which were aimed at mobilizing over $1 trillion for solar energy projects by 2030. For Delhi, it is a diplomatic setback, although the ISA has diversified its membership and funding sources since its inception.

Similar challenges are expected to plague other environment groupings, including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and energy groupings — the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact.

The other basket impacted by Trump’s latest action has economic and human rights groups, including the OECD Global Tax Deal. By declaring the deal has no force or effect in the US, the Trump administration has created legal and policy uncertainty for the global minimum tax framework. The deal, which aims to stop large corporations from shifting profits to low-tax havens, becomes significantly harder to implement effectively on a global scale without the world’s largest economy on board.

Apart from that, it will impact the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the agency focused on reproductive health; UN Women, the entity for gender equality and empowerment; and UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Other notable groupings targeted are for rules-based order: International Law Commission, UN Peacebuilding Commission, Venice Commission of the Council of Europe,  Global Counterterrorism Forum.

Another prominent one is the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) – Economic Commission for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific and Western Asia Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children in Armed Conflict.

In Delhi, officials said Beijing will find all these groupings “ripe for picking”. India, officials said, will have to talk to like-minded partners in these groupings to protect and safeguard the rules.