NEW YORK — The official announcement came from President Donald Trump on Monday, reiterating that the U.S. would part ways with the World Health Organization (WHO) while accusing the International Health Agency of influence in compromising the management of COVID-19 and political meddling.
In his statement, Trump alleged that the WHO had failed in its independence from the member states and singled out its reliance on what he termed ‘unfairly onerous payments’ from the USA. The President claimed that the U.S. contributions were disproportionately big when set against those made by China and other countries.
This means that the United States will formally exit the UN health agency within 12 months, ceasing all financial contributions immediately. Currently, the U.S. contributes about 18% of the WHO’s total annual funding amounting to $6.8 billion for the years 2024-2025. Experts have voiced concern that withdrawal will risk some essential WHO initiatives to combat tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and global health emergencies.
The executive order mandated a halt to U.S. negotiations regarding the WHO’s pandemic treaty and ordered that U.S. personnel working on WHO must be transferred. The administration further intends to seek new partners to take on the responsibilities for critical WHO activities that had previously received U.S. support.
This marks Trump’s second attempt to withdraw from the WHO. In 2020, during his first term, he suggested that the U.S. might quit the organization, accusing it of enabling China in “misleading the world” about COVID-19’s origin; at that point, Trump also suspended U.S. funding, with the effect of leaving this $200 million hole for the WHO to cope with when the pandemic struck.
