The selection is bizarre, including withdrawal from the Science and Technology Center in the Ukraine (admittedly an international organization but a slap in the face of a country at war). And there are international treaties, conventions, or protocols that the U.S. has not signed, ratified, or has also withdrawn from. As to climate change, the U.S. never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Last week’s Presidential Executive Order is but one more step in U.S. multilateral withdrawal from the global structure it was central to establishing after World War II and, for 80 years, largely supported. We are at a time of increasing peril; the entire international framework is now on shaky ground.

Source: International New York Times January 12, 2026 13:27 UTC