President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States will withdraw from the World Health Organization, saying the organization has mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.
Trump said the WHO had failed to act independently of “undue political influence from WHO member states” and required “unreasonably heavy payments” from the US that were disproportionate to the money provided by other large countries, such as China.
“Global health ripped us off, everyone is tearing the United States apart. That’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said at the signing ceremony.
The move means the US will withdraw from the UN health agency within 12 months and stop all financial contributions to its work. The United States is the largest financial sponsor of the World Health Organization, contributing about 18% of its total funding. WHO’s most recent two-year budget for 2024-2025 is $6.8 billion.
Trump’s withdrawal from the WHO is not unexpected. He moved to leave the body during his first term as president in 2020, accusing the WHO of supporting China’s efforts to “mislead the world” about the origins of COVID.
The WHO vehemently denies the charge and says it is pressuring Beijing to share data to determine whether COVID originated from human contact with infected animals or from research on similar viruses in a domestic laboratory.
