Washington, Jan 8 (IANS) Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi on Thursday sharply criticised the Donald Trump administration’s decision to withdraw the United States from 66 international organisations, warning that the move risks weakening US security, undermining global public health efforts, and ceding strategic ground to the Chinese Communist Party.
Krishnamoorthi, the Ranking Member of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, said the decision marked a dangerous reversal of long-standing US leadership in shaping global institutions.
“The Trump administration’s decision to abandon long-standing international institutions is a reckless retreat from American leadership that will weaken our security, our economy, and our global influence,” he said in a statement. “Walking away from the table does not protect U.S. sovereignty. It cedes influence and leadership to authoritarian competitors, including the Chinese Communist Party, and leaves our allies and partners questioning America’s reliability.”
He said the withdrawals would have concrete consequences for U.S. safety and stability, pointing to areas where international coordination directly benefits Americans.
“These withdrawals include abandoning counterterrorism coordination that helps prevent extremist attacks, public health partnerships that detect and contain disease threats, and stabilizing efforts that reduce conflict and humanitarian crises before they reach our shores,” Krishnamoorthi said. “If institutions need reform, the answer is leadership and accountability, not abdication. Turning our back on the world does not put America first. It puts America alone.”
Other senior Democrats echoed concerns over the scope and implications of the administration’s move. House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman said the withdrawals reflected a broader ideological shift in U.S. foreign policy. “This is climate denial as foreign policy,” Huffman said, arguing that exiting international climate agreements would leave the United States isolated while competitors move ahead on clean energy and environmental standards.
Leaders of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition also condemned the decision, saying it would weaken US global standing. “Today, President Donald Trump sent a dangerous signal to the global community that America is withdrawing from its role as a world leader, leaving America weaker, poorer, and more unsafe than ever before,” the group said in a statement responding to the withdrawal from 66 organisations, including climate and environmental bodies.
The Trump administration, however, defended the move as necessary to protect U.S. sovereignty and taxpayer interests. A White House fact sheet said President Donald Trump had directed the withdrawal from organisations that “no longer serve American interests,” arguing that many advance “globalist agendas over U.S. priorities” and operate inefficiently.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the administration had found the targeted 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”.
International institutions have been a central pillar of US’ foreign policy since World War II.
–IANS
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