President Donald Trump has announced the United States will withdraw from UNESCO for the second time, effective at the end of 2026. The State Department cited the organization's focus on "divisive social and cultural causes" and its alignment with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals as contrary to America First foreign policy, as well as "anti-Israel rhetoric" within UNESCO. This follows a pattern of Trump pulling the US from multilateral bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization, and continues a fraught history: the US stopped funding UNESCO under Obama over Palestine's membership, left in 2017 under Trump, and rejoined under Biden in 2023.
This matters because UNESCO oversees the protection of over 1,200 World Heritage Sites worldwide, including 26 in the US, and leads reconstruction of cultural heritage damaged by conflict—such as in Ukraine and Iraq. The withdrawal reduces American influence in global cultural diplomacy and leaves a vacuum that geopolitical rivals like China may fill. It also signals a broader US retreat from international cooperation on cultural preservation, at a time when UNESCO is actively monitoring damage to sites in Ukraine and Gaza and facing controversies over its stances on Israel and Palestine.