Trump exits 66 international organizations in latest retreat from global cooperation

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order suspended U.S. support for 66 organizations, agencies and commissions, including those affiliated with the United Nations, as the country further retreats from global cooperation.

The targets are primarily U.N.-related groups that focus on climate, labor and other issues that the Trump administration has criticized for catering to “woke” initiatives.

Trump

The decision to withdraw comes as ongoing U.S. Military efforts and threats have rattled allies and adversaries alike, including the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and indications of U.S. intention to take over Greenland.

On Wednesday morning, the Trump administration confiscated two Venezuela-linked sanctioned petroleum tankers, in its latest move to establish control over the world’s largest proven reserves of crude oil.

Rubio to meet with Danish officials over Greenland:

The secretary of state announced his plans amidst escalating tensions over the self-governing Danish territory, a strategic island that Trump has argued the U.S. needs to control. The White House doubled down Tuesday, stating “U.S. military is always an option,” even as Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned earlier in the week that a U.S. The takeover would amount to the end of NATO.

US to buy billions worth of Venezuelan oil:

Trump announced the sale Tuesday, which could be worth as much as $2.8 billion. Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA confirmed Wednesday it is in negotiations with the US. government for oil sales. The White House is organizing a meeting Friday with U.S. oil company executives from companies like Exxon and Chevron to discuss Colombia, according to a person familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss the plans.
US began seizing oil tankers in December: Trump announced the first seizure, which was led by the Coast Guard and supported by the Navy off Venezuela’s coast, on December 10. forces to take control of a merchant ship is incredibly unusual.

Where Things Stand

Military budget: PresidentTrump on Wednesday proposed increasing military spending by more than half, saying on social media that the defense budget should increase to $1.5 trillion in 2027. Trump also threatened Raytheon, one of the country’s biggest military contractors, and said he would move to cut executive pay in the defense industry. Since the military raid that captured Venezuelan leader last week, the Trump administration has embraced a more imperial tone, including by not ruling out the use of military force to satisfy Mr. Trump’s desire to control Greenland, a territory of a NATO ally.

Housing costs: Mr. Trump said he wanted Congress to stop private equity firms and other large investors from purchasing more single-family homes, a position with populist appeal that has long failed to gain broader traction. Critics say such purchases have driven up prices in some markets. Read more ›

Dietary guidelines:

The Trump administration released new dietary guidelines that invert the food pyramid, placing steak, cheese and whole milk near the top. The guidelines also suggested people “limit alcohol beverages” while dropping the recommendation that they limit themselves to one or two drinks a day.

President Trump was expected to withdraw the United States on Wednesday from the bedrock international agreement that forms the foundation for countries to rein in climate change.

The agreement, which has been in place for 34 years, counts all of the other nations of the world as members.

In a social media post, the White House announced that the president signed a presidential memorandum that pulled the United States from 66 international organizations and treaties that “no longer serve American interests.”

The decision not only sends a powerful signal of America’s withdrawal from global diplomacy and leadership, but is a finger in the eye to the billions of people, including Americans, suffering intensifying wildfires, storms and droughts, threats to the food supply and to biodiversity, and other dangerous and expensive effects of a warming planet.

The move sealed the United States’ isolation in the world on climate action. The agreement, officially known as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, was established in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Known by its acronym, UNFCCC, it was the foundation for the Paris agreement a decade ago, a voluntary pact among nations to slow down global temperature rises to relatively reasonable levels.

Mr. Trump has already moved to withdraw the United States from the Paris accord. That will become official on Jan. 20.

President Trump‘s retreat on climate cooperation comes as the United States’ main rival on the world stage, China, has come to dominate the clean energy technologies of the future. At the same time, many of the United States’ most powerful allies, including Australia, Britain and the European Union, are also advancing their ambitions to reduce emissions of planet-heating greenhouse gases and ramp up renewable energies.

The world’s most phenomenal geopolitical player, its largest economy, its second largest emitter, is basically checking out,” the European Union’s climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, said in a recent interview referring to the U.S. stance on the Paris agreement.

The withdrawal would take a year to go into effect once the U.S. files a formal notice with the United States. Once finalized, the U.S. would no longer take part in annual negotiations among 200 nations aimed at encouraging countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

“It sends a major signal around the world of U.S. disregard for climate policy that’s essential for the world,” said Jean Galbraith, a professor specializing in international law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

The U.S. Senate ratified the U.N. climate treaty unanimously in 1992. A president’s legal authority to unilaterally withdraw from a treaty is questionable, and the Supreme Court has never conclusively ruled on the issue.

And yet as a practical matter, past presidents have been able to do so.

And yet as a practical matter, past presidents have been able to do so. When President George W. Bush withdrew the U.S. from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002, for instance, only a few members of Congress objected.

Some legal scholars have said withdrawal from the U.N. climate framework would make it difficult, if not impossible, for the United States to return under a future president without another Senate vote.

Others, including Ms. Galbraith said a future president could bring the U.S. get back into the treaty relatively easily. The two thirds Senate vote that took place in 1992. remains in effect, she said, and doesn’t get nullified if a president walks away from the agreement.

The decision to withdraw is part of an aggressive attack on climate efforts by President Trump. His administration has rolled back climate regulations, removed scientific data on climate change from government websites, hindered the development of wind and solar energy and commissioned a federal report downplaying the effects of a warming planet.

For more such information, connect with us today: : www.globalmediaa.com