Trump Withdraws US From WHO on First Day in Office

The Trump administration cited the WHO’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises as reasons for the withdrawal.
Trump Withdraws US From WHO on First Day in Office
A man enters the headquarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 15, 2021. Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Aldgra Fredly
Updated:
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Newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) and halting future U.S. funding to the United Nations organization.

The order cited the WHO’s “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises” as reasons behind the U.S. withdrawal. It also stated that the WHO failed to “adopt urgently needed reforms” and was unable to demonstrate independence from “the inappropriate political influence” of member states.

“In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments. China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO,” the Trump executive order stated.

Trump initiated his first withdrawal process from the WHO during his first term in 2020. President Joe Biden reversed the decision upon taking office in 2021.

The latest order states that the Trump administration will request to the United Nations that the presidential letter that retracted the 2020 withdrawal notification be revoked.