Among the executive orders signed at the White House Monday night, President Donald Trump formally withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Trump said that the organization had “ripped off” the U.S.
Thefrontrank reports that the U.S. is the largest funder of the WHO, which monitors disease outbreaks around the world.
The U.S. also majorly contributes to the WHO’s work — including collaborations with the CDC and NIH on issues like cancer prevention and global health security.
Trump’s executive order is an attempt to finish what he started in his last presidency and is all but guaranteed to succeed this time around.
Trump removed the U.S. from the WHO in 2020, but withdrawal requires one year of advance notice.
Biden took office six months later and revoked Trump’s action before it ever took effect.
This time around, the U.S.’s withdrawal is again supposed to be a yearlong process, confirmed Lawrence Gostin, professor of law and global health at George Washington University and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Public Health Law & Human Rights.
But Trump will likely act as if he’s already withdrawn, disengaging from the WHO, and without bipartisan agreement from Congress to overturn Trump’s action, which isn’t likely, the WHO will officially lose its largest funder by 2026.
Trump, asked by a reporter Monday night about his experience leading the country during the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of the WHO to mount a global response to pandemics, said the withdrawal was about “being ripped off.”
“Everybody rips off the United States and that’s it — it’s not going to happen anymore,” Trump said.
