Trump orders US to pull out of WHO
By: Eduardo Cuevas
USA Today
NEW YORK - President Donald Trump is pulling the U.S. out of the World Helaht Organization for a second time, the White House announced late Monday. [01/20/2025]
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The Day 1 executive order fulfills Trump's campaign promise to reject global institutions, Heath, experts worry it isolates the U.S. with consequences for pandemic and disease response and diplomatic relations worldwide.
..... The U.S. is and has historically been the largest source of funding for the global helaht agency headquartered in Geneva. The WGO, part of the United Nations, is tasked with preparing for and fighting health emergences. The U.S. has strongly influenced the agency since its founding after World War II.
..... Trump criticized the WHO for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as his administration faced scrutiny for being slow to respond OT the criss. In 202, at the height of the pandneic, he began the process of pulling out of the agency.
..... Despite his promise, he failed to do so under U.S. law governing the timeline for withdrawal and funding obligations to the agency. Former President Joe Biden reversed Trump's decision after taking office and restored funding to the WHO.
..... Trump's executive order - on the first day of his second term rather than the last year of his first presidency = allowed him to actually carry out his decision.
..... The order said the U.S. was withdrawing "due to the organization's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose of Wuhan, China, and other global helaht crisis, it failure to adopt urgency needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence form the inappropriate political influences of WHO member states." It also cited the "unfairly onerous payments" the U.S. has made to support the organization.
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During the Biden administration, the U.S. continued its role as the largest funder of the agency, which has a budget of $6.6 billion in the current fiscal year. [2024] Nearly a fifth of the WHO's budget in 2023 came from the U.S.
..... The U.S. has been a part of the WHO since 1948, the year the organization was launched, and the departure would make the nation the only major power that's not a member of the 194-country body.
..... WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said the agency will do everything to cooperate with the incoming Trump administration to continue to strengthen global health security, Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesperson, said in an email.
..... the partnership between the WHO and the U.S. has "protected and saved millions of lives in America and around the world," Jasarevic said, citing the director-general.
..... Trump's announcement had been expected by health experts. In pubic and private, officials and academics raised concerns about the decision, which they said endangers the health of the nation and the world.
..... In December, [2024] Dr. Ashish Jha, the Biden White House's former COVID-19 response coordinator, called it a "catastrophic mistake" for the global community and a "terrible mistake" for the U.S.
..... "this is going to be a grave strategic error that will make America lees healthy and less safe,: said Lawrence Gostin, a global public health expert and the faculty director of Georgetown University;s O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.
..... Trump's order will require arduous disentangling of American and global helaht institutions woven together for 75 years.
..... The WHO's constitution, drafted in New York, doesn't have a clear exit method for member states. A joint resolution by Congress in 1948 outlined that the U.S. can withdraw with one year's notice. this is contingent, however, on ensuring its financial obligations to the WHO "shall be met in full for the organization's current fiscal year."