President Trump signs an executive order on the U.S. withdrawal from WHO in the Oval Office on Jan. 20. Photo: Jim Watson / pool / AFP via Getty Images
President Trump fulfilled his campaign pledge Monday to pull the U.S. out of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The big picture: The U.S. is the WHO’s top donor, contributing about $130 million per year to help cover its global health preparedness and response, along with efforts to address HIV, tuberculosis, and childhood vaccination, per Devex.
- Trump started the process to withdraw from WHO during his first term, claiming the agency failed badly responding to COVID-19 and had not demonstrated its independence from China.
- However, then-President Biden reversed it on his first day in office.
Driving the news: Monday’s executive order states that the U.S. issued a notice about its withdrawal in 2020 “due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic … and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.”
- Additionally, “the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments,” it continues, noting China pays less despite having a larger population.
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Editor’s note: This a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
