The White House has announced a major retreat from the U.N. after Trump ordered a massive 50 percent cut in U.S. funding for United Nations programs. The White House is scheduled to release its 2018 budget on Thursday which is expected to include cuts of up to 37 percent for spending on the State Department, the USAID, and other foreign assistance programs, including the U.N. (which amounts to around $10 billion a year). The Trump administration has repeatedly vowed to distance the U.S. from participating in the “corrupt” United Nations, signalling that it may leave the U.N. altogether. Foreignpolicy.com reports: It remains unclear whether the full extent of the steeper U.N. cuts will be reflected in the 2018 budget, which will be prepared by the White House Office of Management and Budget, or whether, as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has proposed, the cuts would be phased in over the coming three years. One official close to the Trump administration said Tillerson has been given flexibility to decide how the cuts would be distributed. On March 9 in New York, U.S. diplomats in a closed-door meeting warned key U.N. members, including wealthy donors from Europe, Japan, and South Korea, to “expect a big [...]