WHO: Trump announces US withdrawal from the World Health Organization

CNN
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President Donald Trump announced Monday that he is pulling the United States out of the World Health Organization, in a major move that drew criticism from public health experts on his first day back in the White House.

Trump has long been critical of the UN health agency, and his administration formally began a withdrawal from the WHO in July 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to spread. But four years ago, then-President Joe Biden halted the US exit from the body tasked with coordinating the international response to health emergencies in one of his first actions after taking over the White House.

The text of Monday’s executive order cites “the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that emerged from Wuhan, China and other global health crises, its failure to enact urgently needed reforms, and its failure to demonstrate independence from the undue political influence by WHO member countries,” as reasons for the US withdrawal.

“It’s a big one,” Trump told an aide as he began signing the executive order, pointing to his 2020 resolution and his belief that the United States paid too much money to the organization compared to other countries. In 2020, Trump also consistently accused the organization of helping China allegedly cover up the origin of Covid-19 and allow its spread.

CNN has reached out to the WHO for comment.

While lawmakers from both parties had criticized the WHO in 2020 when Trump first decided to withdraw, many condemned the president’s decision to withdraw during a once-in-a-century global pandemic. Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it at the time “an act of true senselessness.” And since-retired Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander — then chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — said he disagreed with Trump’s decision.

Dr. Ashish Jha, who served as the White House’s Covid-19 response coordinator during the Biden administration, called Trump’s decision to withdraw from the WHO in his second term a “strategic mistake.”

“The WHO is a pretty essential organization — and with the US withdrawal, it creates a political vacuum that only one country can fill — and that’s China,” Jha said in an interview with CNN on Monday.

He predicted that China will stand up for the organization in the absence of US funding and leadership, which in turn could “give China more political influence around the world.”

Lawrence Gostin, professor of public health law at Georgetown University, said in a post on X that Trump’s withdrawal from the WHO is “the most significant of all” of Trump’s executive actions on Monday.

“It is a catastrophic presidential decision. Withdrawal is a serious wound to the health of the world, but an ever-deepening wound to the United States,” he added.

Jha warned that withdrawing from the WHO weakens the organization because it relies heavily on US personnel and expertise, particularly in tracking global influenza.

Trump’s executive action calls on the secretary of state and the director of the Office of Management and Budget to “pause the future transfer of any US government funds, support or resources” to the WHO. However, it takes a year to fully withdraw from the body, and there is an obligation for the United States to continue funding it for one year.

“But who is going to enforce the commitment? Will Donald Trump be cowed by global norms around these things?” Jha asked.

Gostin, who is also the O’Neill Chair in Global Health Law at Georgetown Law, said in a later posts that the action is “fraught with legal and factual errors”.

“Trump is not waiting a year as Congress demanded. He is unraveling US commitment and funding now. It is illegal and a serious strategic mistake,” he added.

CNN’s Jack Forrest and Meg Tirrell contributed to this report.