United States Announces that it Will Withdraw from UNESCO

On July 22, 2025, the United States informed Director-General Audrey Azoulay of the United States’ decision to withdraw from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The Trump administration believes that continued involvement in UNESCO is supposedly not in the national interest of the United States. A press release from the U.S. State Department stated that "UNESCO works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy." The press release also stated that UNESCO’s decision to admit Palestine as a Member State "is highly problematic, contrary to U.S. policy, and contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization."