New Delhi, Jan. 8 -- US President Donald Trump has ordered the United States to withdraw from dozens of international bodies, including the world's central climate treaty and the UN's leading climate science authority, marking one of the most far-reaching retrenchments from the multilateral system in modern American history.

The decision, announced by the White House on Wednesday, is outlined in a memorandum identifying 66 international organisations deemed to be "contrary to the interests of the United States", as the administration accelerates its broader disengagement from the United Nations and allied institutions.

Among the most consequential exits is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the foundatio...