Little publicity has been given to the intended return to UNESCO. The United States already discreetly briefed the United Nations on the plans last week, a US State Department spokesman confirmed to the Axios news site.
Donald Trump
The then-Trump administration announced in 2017 that it was leaving UNESCO. The organization had allowed Palestine to join as a full member state. The United States, an important ally of Israel, had therefore already stopped payments to UNESCO in 2011. This led to back payments that eventually rose to over half a billion dollars.
The Trump administration accused UNESCO of being “anti-Israel” and said it was not in the US interest to pay off the debt. Democrat Joe Biden’s current administration fears that leaving UNESCO would give rival China too much leverage. Last year, the US Congress cleared the way for the resumption of payments to UNESCO.