Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization and the Paris Agreement; The return of extreme nationalism to America
Mehr News Agency, International Group: Donald Trump, the president of the United States, immediately after settling in the White House, issued several executive orders. signed two executive orders to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement and The World Health Organization left.
The nature of Trump’s withdrawal policy
Exit policy is an approach that seems to form the focus of American foreign policy towards international institutions in this period, as in the previous period. This policy is mostly based on three ideas of economic interests, revision of traditional alliances and opposition to multilateralism. Trump’s foreign policy cannot be separated from the economic interests of the United States. From this point of view, if America does not benefit much from international cooperation, there will be no reason to cooperate with international organizations. Declaring the American foreign policy of his predecessors to be obsolete, Trump announced that he will replace it with a new vision that focuses on ensuring the nation’s security as a priority.
As a result of this approach, the commitment of the United States to traditional alliances and multilateral institutions will be questioned, causing severe tensions and a decrease in trust between Washington and former partners; At the moment, the European allies of the United States are most concerned about European security, the rise of extreme right-wing forces across the continent, the transatlantic trade war, and the weakening of multilateralism. It is predicted that Trump’s foreign policy will create a new exceptionalism in this period as well. America’s foreign policy in this period, as in Trump’s previous period, has changed from liberal multilateralism to unilateralism of realism, which causes the past criteria to change in America’s attitude to world politics and the position of America’s allies in the security and economic integration portfolio of this country is reduced. Emmanuel Macron’s advice to other European countries, who should work harder than ever to protect their sovereignty with Trump in office, was in this direction.
Trump’s disappointing departure from the Paris Agreement
The Paris Environmental Treaty was signed by 190 countries in 2015 and is known as the main pillar of global policy to deal with climate change and greenhouse gases. The agreement aims to limit long-term global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. During his previous presidency, Trump implemented his decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement at the end of 2020. Trump’s withdrawal from this agreement this time also has economic goals like last time. Increasing economic growth and reducing inflation has been one of his main election promises. In support of economic nationalism, Trump wants to strengthen large oil and gas companies in order to increase economic income, and this is in conflict with the aforementioned agreement.
The executive order that Trump issued on the Paris Agreement showed that the international agreements that the United States has joined in recent years reflect the country’s values and are in line with its economic and environmental goals. It was not environmental. Furthermore, these agreements divert American taxpayer dollars to countries that do not need or deserve aid. The new US president’s order to withdraw from the Paris Agreement comes at a time when 2024 has just ended as the hottest year on record and wildfires have left much destruction in Los Angeles.
This withdrawal is part of American unilateralism, which does not consider international interests and multilateralism and distorts the goals of the international community. Experts believe that the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement will jeopardize the country’s ability to shape the global response to climate change. Bob Ward, one of the directors of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, found Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement very disappointing. According to him, this withdrawal means that the world’s second largest producer of greenhouse gases is going to turn its back on this agreement in a year when all countries have accepted more commitments before the next UN climate change summit in Brazil.
Exit from WHO under the guise of confronting China
On the first day of his presidency, Trump also signed another executive order to withdraw from the World Health Organization. After the official announcement by the United Nations, this withdrawal will take effect within 12 months. America is currently considered the biggest financial supporter of this organization and provides 18% of its budget. This action of the new American government has been highlighted by supporters and opponents. Proponents of the move in the US, including some conservatives, have criticized the World Health Organization’s effort to create a pandemic treaty that would require member countries to monitor pathogens, share data and support vaccine development. Critics of this action also see the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization as a challenge for this country in terms of access to data, monitoring, presence at the negotiating table, and the responsibility of other countries in the event of an epidemic. Lawrence Gustin, an expert at the Institute of Health Law at Georgetown University, believes that “in the next pandemic, we may find ourselves at the end of the line”.
Trump believes that the World Health Organization has misbehaved after the Covid-19 pandemic and other international health crises and has not been able to act independently of the political influence of some member countries. According to Trump, the organization has demanded disproportionate payments from the United States compared to other major countries such as China. In a speech about the budget of the World Health Organization, Trump declared: “It is very sad that China pays 39 million dollars and we pay 500 million dollars.” In fact, Trump is seeking to withdraw from the organization by accusing it of helping China mislead the world about the origin of the Covid-19 virus.
On the other hand, the withdrawal of the United States from this organization will reduce its ability to deal with public health threats around the world. With the withdrawal of the United States, the capacity of this organization to deal with health emergencies and disease outbreaks, especially in poor countries, will suffer the most.
Result
Trump’s executive orders on the first day of his presidency to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization showed the return of extreme nationalism to this country. America’s exit policy in this period is based on economic interests, the need to revise traditional alliances, including transatlantic alliances, and opposition to multilateralism. At the same time, what is more visible is the competition with China, which is evident in all aspects of Trump’s foreign policy.
Sajad Moradi Kalardeh; International relations researcher
