Trump administration quietly moves back from cutting funds to WTO. How it blew hot and cold on UN agencies over the years
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Trump administration quietly moves back from cutting funds to WTO. How it blew hot and cold on UN agencies over the years")
Trump has always gone against UN agencies, but WTO is a different ballgame Photograph: (Others)
From UNRWA to the WTO and WHO, Trump’s second term echoes his first when it comes to cutting funds for United Nations agencies. Here is the story of his hot and cold, impulsive approach to these global agencies
The White House has removed the World Trade Organization (WTO) from its official list of $4.9 billion in proposed foreign aid cuts, just days after including it in a sweeping budget rollback aimed at international institutions, mainly United Nations agencies. The reversal of Thursday (Sep 4) marks a rare moment of retreat in President Donald Trump’s second term, with his zigzag approach to US engagement with global institutions.
Trump and funding cuts for UN agencies: A familiar pattern
Since he returned to the Oval Room, Trump has issued orders targeting international aid and relief agencies and the United Nations.
One of his first executive orders on 20 January this year paused nearly all foreign development aid for 90 days, including funding for UN agencies.
On 4 February 4, his government took direct aim at several familiar targets:
He cut funds to UNRWA, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, citing its alleged ties to the Hamas militant group tied to the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel.
The US fully withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council, as it did in Trump's first term in 2018.
UNESCO was placed under formal review, without any funding changes as of now.
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The WTO funding issue: How it started
The second Trump administration tried to cancel $4.9 billion in foreign aid already approved by US Congress through the rarely used "pocket rescission" under the Impoundment Control Act.
The list included $521 million earmarked for multilateral organisations. Among these was the $29 million annual US contribution to the WTO. The cutting of this aid was made in a public announcement in late August
But WTO is a different kind of beast. It is still the main legal framework guiding international trade. The US was already behind on its payments—as of December 2024, it owed the WTO nearly 11 per cent of its total budget. The WTO marked these arrears under “Category 1” , which limits US participation in key functions like dispute panels.
Lawmakers argued the WTO fund cut move violated Congress’s constitutional power of the purse. The Trump administration was warned that cutting funds to the WTO would give more influence to US rivals like China.
The pressure has now made the Trump administration walk back, with the White House removing WTO from the pocket recessions list.
WTO move is similar to Trump's steps against other global agencies
In his first and second terms, the Trump administration made several steps to move away from multilateralism.
It cut all funding to UNRWA in 2018, ending decades of American leadership as its top donor.
The first Trump administration withdrew the US from UNESCO in 2017, citing alleged anti-Israel bias.
In 2017, it defunded the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), alleging coercive reproductive practices in China.
Also read: Brazil seeks WTO relief against Donald Trump tariffs: Report
Most widely known move from the first term of Trump was the suspension of US funding to the WHO in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Trump blamed the UN health agency's deference to China.
In 2019, the Trump administration blocked appointments to the WTO's dispute resolution system, effectively crippling the appellate body.
Suspicion, withdrawal, funding cuts: Trump's deep dislike for international organisations
The WTO funding issue is the latest in the Trump administration's consistent bashing of global bodies. Across his fist and second terms, Trump made the same approach to multilateral organisations: suspicion, withdrawal, and budget cuts. But he probably realised that cutting funds to a crucial organisation like WTO will get the US entangled in international diplomatic wranglings and trade disputes.
