The United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has said the decision by the United States to exit 66 international organisations followed an extensive review by the President Donald Trump administration, which classified the bodies as wasteful, ineffective, and harmful.
In a press statement issued on Thursday and titled “Withdrawal from Wasteful, Ineffective, or Harmful International Organisations,” dated January 7, 2026, Rubio said the move aligns with Executive Order 14199 signed by President Donald J. Trump.
“Today, in furtherance of Executive Order 14199, President Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from 66 international organizations identified as part of the Trump Administration’s review of wasteful, ineffective, and harmful international organizations,” Rubio said.
He noted that the assessment process is still ongoing.
“Review of additional international organizations pursuant to Executive Order 14199 remains ongoing,” the Secretary of State added.
According to the statement, the Trump administration determined that the affected organisations no longer advance the interests of the United States.
“The Trump Administration has found these institutions to be redundant in their scope, mismanaged, unnecessary, wasteful, poorly run, 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,” Rubio stated.
He said President Trump has made it clear that continued US funding and participation in such institutions would no longer be tolerated.
“President Trump is clear: 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,” he said.
“The days of billions of dollars in taxpayer money flowing to foreign interests at the expense of our people are over,” Rubio added.
Rubio confirmed that the United States will formally disengage from the 66 organisations identified in the review.
“As such, the United States will be withdrawing from the 66 organisations that can be found here,” the statement read.
He further argued that the global institutional system has strayed from its founding objectives.
“As this list begins to demonstrate, what started as a pragmatic framework of international organisations for peace and cooperation has morphed into a sprawling architecture of global governance, often dominated by progressive ideology and detached from national interests,” Rubio said.
Highlighting key concerns, he added:
“From DEI mandates to ‘gender equity’ campaigns to climate orthodoxy, many international organizations now serve a globalist project rooted in the discredited fantasy of the ‘End of History.’”
According to Rubio, such institutions now work against US autonomy.
“These organisations actively seek to constrain American sovereignty,” he said.
He also claimed their operations are backed by interconnected elite networks.
“Their work is advanced by the same elite networks—the multilateral ‘NGO-plex’—that we have begun dismantling through the closure of USAID,” Rubio stated.
Rubio stressed that the US would no longer invest resources or diplomatic credibility in institutions deemed misaligned with national priorities.
“We will not continue expending resources, diplomatic capital, and the legitimizing weight of our participation in institutions that are irrelevant to or in conflict with our interests,” he said.
He concluded by outlining the administration’s policy direction.
“We reject inertia and ideology in favor of prudence and purpose. We seek cooperation where it serves our people and will stand firm where it does not,” Rubio said.
The statement added that the US government has released the full list of the 66 organisations affected by the withdrawal, as detailed below.