In one of the first official acts following his swearing in, President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization. President Trump cited the organization’s mishandling in 2020 of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises.
The executive order notes “WHO’s failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO 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,” said President Trump. “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.”
Under the new executive order, the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs will be tasked with establishing mechanisms within the National Security Council to safeguard public health and biosecurity.
President Trump called on the Secretary of State and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to take appropriate measures to pause the future transfer of any United States government funds, support, or resources to the WHO; recall and reassign United States government personnel or contractors working in any capacity with the WHO; and identify credible and transparent United States and international partners to assume necessary activities previously undertaken by the WHO.
President Trump called on the Director of the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy to review, rescind, and replace the 2024 U.S. Global Health Security Strategy as soon as possible.
Moreover, while withdrawal is in progress, the Secretary of State will cease negotiations on the WHO Pandemic Agreement and the amendments to the International Health Regulations, and actions taken to effectuate such agreement will have no binding force on the United States.
President Trump promised during his campaign to “work to forge a new coalition of nations that are strongly committed to protecting health while also upholding sovereignty and freedom.”
