Trump wants to pull the US out of the World Health Organization again. Here’s what may happen next
Updated: 1:36 AM EST Jan 21, 2025
Thank you very much, everybody. I appreciate it. Thank you. So now the work begins. We won, we won, but now the work begins. We have to bring them home. And you know tonight I’m gonna be signing on the J 6 hostages pardons. To get them out And as soon as I leave, I’m going to the Oval Office and we’ll be signing pardons for *** lot of people, *** lot of people. And thank you to Steve Witkoff. He’s *** great guy. He’s *** friend of mine. He’s been *** very successful man. He’s *** great negotiator. He’s wonderful guy. People love him and he’s got *** tremendous power of persuasion, and that’s what we need. We don’t need stiffs. We don’t need stiff. We got *** lot of stiffs. You just had, you just had *** whole load of them. And to the former hostages with us today, welcome welcome home. Some of the folks are former hostages, not, not *** good situation. The three young ladies that came home yesterday, you saw that more coming home every day now they’re coming home, but they were hurt. They were hurt. They were hurt. One had her head blown off, fingers on her hand, and her hand indeed was blown off. She was trying to defend herself from *** bullet being fired. Do you believe this? *** bullet knocked off her hand. I don’t know, you look at it, it’s *** disgrace. We never stopped praying for you and we’re so glad that you’re reunited with your friends and families, and God bless you all and some of them are just saying, no, my son is gone, but please just bring home his body right Steve? Many of you have told me that. That your son is gone, but bring home his body. It should have never happened. 3 years, it’s ridiculous. Should have never happened. Wouldn’t have happened. I also want to express my tremendous gratitude to the hundreds of thousands of proud American patriots who came from all across the country to join us in this celebration. It’s *** celebration of *** big win. And you’re witnessing The dawn of the golden age of America. That’s what it’s going to be. We’re bringing it back. We’re gonna bring it back fast. We’re gonna bring it back faster. Let us also thank the incredible service members, National Guardsmen, police, Secret Service, and law enforcement personnel for keeping us all safe, even though they are great people. New York’s finest. I grew up with New York’s finest, and we got to give them their authority back. You won’t have any crime. There’ll be no crime. You give them little authority back. The whole way they run things in this country now, it’s disgraceful, but it’s gonna change rapidly. We’re gonna make our city safe again too. Even though we’re indoors, we’ve had *** magnificent inaugural parade, and let’s give *** big round of applause. They were great to all of the incredible performers and hardworking men and women who made it possible, those people. Really talented amazing people. I also want to thank my wonderful family for being here, especially my beautiful wife, our first lady Melania. They love our first lady and also JD. How, how good is JD been and his beautiful wife Usha. How good is JB? JD has been great. He’s another good negotiator, Steve. He’s *** great negotiator too. We need negotiators in this country. But so many of the people on the stage, we had not only family members as an example, Laura Trump, the wife of Eric, she was the head of the Republican Party along with my friend Michael stand up, the two of you. What *** job. What *** job they did. They worked so hard they knew they’d be rigging, but they said we’re going to make it too big to rig, and we did. We made it too big to rig. We won every swing state by *** lot. We won the popular vote by millions and millions of votes. We won the whole ball of wax. And now we’re going to go and drill baby drill and do all the things that we’ve wanted to do and bring your costs down, your prices down. And make our country safe. So thank you very much, Michael. Thank you very much. What *** job you’ve done, Michael. I’m never moving you, you know he was thinking about getting *** nice job in the administration. I said, no, I’m leaving you right where you are. You’ve done *** very good job. We’re not moving you, Michael. I’m sorry. Anyway, thank you very much. Appreciate it appreciate it very much. Right here with us also in the arena. I’m about to sign some very important executive orders of our new administration. Hey Don, will you stand up please? Don is another one. How about Don? This guy. He’s *** popular one. He goes out and speaks. He gets *** big crowd. He’s *** little on the rough side sometimes if that’s, that’s what you want. He’s done, he’s done *** fantastic job, and he loves our country. Thanks, great job. You’ve done *** great job, and Ivanka. And you know Jared negotiated the Abraham Accords, which are the biggest, it’s the biggest deal made in the Middle East in many, many years, and it’s really some Jared stand up, Jared. The Abraham Act. Right. And Tiffany’s going to have *** little baby. And my And then I have *** very tall son named Barron. Thank you. He knew the youth vote, you know, we won the youth vote by 36 points, and he was saying, Dad, I, you gotta go out and do this one or that one, and we did *** lot of them, and he respects them all. He understood them very well and he said, Dad, you gotta go out, do Joe Rogan, do all these guys that we did. We did and Joe Rogan was great. They were all great, right? Aaron, they were all good. He understood the market. Another famous one, how about Kai stand up, Kai. Is that Byron Donald’s back there? I stand up, Byron. Uh, stand up. What *** future this one has. What *** future. That’s great, Byron, thank you very much and How about Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce, he’s going to take in more money. than any country has ever even thought about. He’s going to take in some money. And we have many others. Look, I’m not going to go through it, but we, we’re gonna sign some orders right now and I’m I’m that’s really what I want to do. So we’re going to sign executive orders first. I’ll revoke nearly 80 destructive and radical executive actions of the previous administration, one of the worst administrations in history, maybe not one of them, the worst. Anybody that would allow millions of people to pour through our borders from jails, prisons, mental institutions, insane asylums, gang members to be taken off the streets of Venezuelan and deposit. In our country and many not just Venezuela, you know, crime in Venezuela is down 74% because they took their criminals and gave them to us through an open border policy of the previous administration. All over the world they’re emptying their prisons into our country. They’re emptying their mental institutions into our country. It stops as of one o’clock this afternoon, OK. So I’m revoking nearly 80 destructive radical executive actions of the previous administration. They’ll all be null and void within about 5 minutes? Is that them over there? 5 minutes? And next to gain immediate control of the vast federal out of control bureaucracy, I will implement an immediate regulation freeze which will stop Biden bureaucrats from continuing to regulate. Most of those bureaucrats are being fired. They’re gone. Should be all of them, but some sneak through, but we have to live with *** couple, I guess. I’ll also issue *** temporary hiring freeze to ensure that we’re only hiring competent people who are faithful to the American public, and we will pause the hiring of any new IRS agents. We will also require that federal workers must return to the office in person. And we’re gonna take the 88,000 people that they hired to go after you with guns, by the way, they’re allowed to use guns and harass you like they were so many other people. Remember this. OK, remember we got, do you remember *** little statement about tips? Does anybody remember that little statement? I think we won Nevada because of that statement, but they went out and harassed you over the tips. In other words, we are restoring control of our government to the people. We’re going to take those 88,000. Let’s see if they’d like to work on the border because that’s what we want them really. So we’re going to have no tax on tips, right? No tax on. We may have like the Speaker of the House, is he here? He’s done such *** good job. Is Mike here around here someplace. I saw him just *** little while ago. Hello fellas, look at you guys. Yeah, he’s, I know it he’s great, he’s doing great. They’re all doing good. The Republican Party has never been unified like it is right now. They want to save our country and we’re gonna more than save it. We’re gonna make it greater than it’s ever been before by *** lot. Next, I’m going to sign *** presidential memorandum directory directing every member of my cabinet to marshal every power at their disposal to defeat inflation and rapidly bring down the cost of daily life because your costs have gone through the roof in the last 4 years. Perhaps you didn’t notice. Does anyone notice that costs are like double, triple, quadruple. You can’t buy bacon. Apples have doubled in price. You want an apple, anybody pay twice what you did 2 years ago. We’ll put more money in your pocket and we’ll bring back the American dream and to reduce energy costs and liberate our economy. So we have more oil and gas than any country in the world, and we’re going to use it. We’re not going to do the wind thing. Big ugly windmills, they ruin your neighborhood, they ruin you. If you have *** house that’s near *** windmill, guess what, your house is worth less than half. And did you see up in New England with the whales, you see what’s happening? So they had 2 whales killed in about 14 years. Last year and the year before total they had 28. So if you’re into whales, you don’t want windmills either, and they’re the most expensive form of energy that you can have by far, and they’re all made in China by the way, practically all of them. And they kill your birds and they ruin your beautiful landscapes. But other than that, I think they’re quite good, right? Now remember when we used to joke and kid when we were kidding, but we don’t kid anymore. They want to watch the debates on television. They wanna watch your favorite president on television, but the wind isn’t blowing, so we can’t watch television that night. Gladys, remember? Gladys, I’m sorry, the wind is just not blowing. We’re not watching Trump tonight. But I’m immediately withdrawing from the unfair one-sided Paris climate accord rip off. The United States will not sabotage our own industries while China pollutes with impunity, you know, China, I mean look. They use *** lot of dirty energy, but they produce *** lot of energy. And when that stuff goes up in the air, you know, it doesn’t stay there. It’s not like you got *** wall we love walls, don’t we? Not like you have *** wall around and it just, it doesn’t, it floats into the United States of America after 3.5 to 5.5 days. It floats across the oceans and it comes right over your neighborhood. And it falls into your neighborhood, so they all say we have to fight for cleaner air, but the other dirty air is dropping all over us, so what the hell are they talking about unless everybody does it. It just doesn’t work, you know, we have the cleanest air and the cleanest water that this country’s ever had under the Trump administration, and we didn’t do anything to stop jobs and stop production, believe me, you’re gonna see *** lot of companies come pouring back because tariffs, I always say tariffs is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary. Then I was reprimanded by the fake news. They said, What about love, religion and God? I said, I agree. Let’s put God #1. Let’s put religion #2. I love, I don’t know, we gotta put that number 3, I guess, right? And then it’s tariff. Because tariffs are going to make us rich as hell, it’s going to bring our country’s businesses back that left us. And I’ll also sign an executive order to immediately end federal government censorship of the American people. In America we believe in free speech. And we’re bringing it back starting today to stop the weaponization. No do I know about that these creeps. Deranged Jack Smith. You ever hear of him? Deranged? He’s *** deranged prosecutor. He’s sick. They, they suck him on me. He’s now been Reduced to getting on an airplane going back to the Hague or wherever the hell he came from, we got to get rid of that guy. Hey, was he one of the many people that that got *** pardon today? Did they pardon Jack Smith? You know, did you know that Biden, while I was making my speech, pardoned his whole family? The brother, the whole deal was pardoned. Can you imagine that? While I was making my speech. Did everybody hear my speech? Did you like my speech? Thank you. I mean, the only thing wrong with it is I had *** lot of tough things to say and I have some great people that work for me, sir. This is such *** great speech. It’s so unifying. Don’t talk about Biden with his pardons of his family. We want *** unified country. They said, Don’t talk about the J6 hostages that you’re going to be releasing today. Sir, don’t put that in your speech, please. I said, but I really, I want to put it in my speech. I said, sir. Won’t be unified like it is, it’s so beautiful the way it is and it is getting great reviews, you know, if I put things like that and I’ll get terrible reviews. One little paragraph that’s *** little bit wrong, the fake news goes crazy, right? So I said, all right, I won’t. Put it in my speech, but you know what? I’m speaking in front of *** hell of *** lot of people at *** place called Capital One Arena, and I’ll talk about it there. So we’re going to We’re gonna be going over to the beautiful Oval Office, one of the great offices in history, even if it wasn’t beautiful, it’s the Oval Office, but it is beautiful, and we love the Oval Office. It all starts with the the wars start and end there. Everything starts and ends at the Oval Office. We love it, but we’re gonna go to the Oval Office. We’re gonna decide we’re gonna release our great hostages that didn’t do. For the most part they didn’t do stuff wrong. You take *** look at what went on and look what happens in other parts of the country in Portland where they kill people, they destroy the city, nothing happens to them. In Seattle, where they took over *** big chunk of the city, nothing happened. Minneapolis where they burned down the city. Nothing happened essentially nothing happened. All they want to do is go after the J-6 hostages. *** 76 year old grandmother was arrested the other day because she was looking, I think because she was looking at the Capitol or something like that. No, we’re not gonna put up with that crap anymore. And to stop the weaponization of law enforcement, I’ve been investigated more than any human being in the world. I believe I have the all-time record every day *** subpoena subpoena. Every single day would get subpoenas. I was more than any person. Alfonse Capone, remember I used to talk about it. Now Alfonse Capone Scarface, he was *** pretty rough guy. He was investigated about 1100 what Trump was. My father’s looking down at me, my mother that how the hell did this happen? You know what it is? They investigated their political opponent, the opponent of Biden, and then ultimately Kamala. Has anyone ever heard of Kamala? We had to beat two opponents, you know, we had to beat Biden and we beat him. Now he goes on top. The guy was like 39 points down. I think I could have beaten it up. They should have left me and I I would have been. Now his debate performance wasn’t the best, right? That’s what killed them and then they had *** change and they, it’s like you get into *** fight the great Dana White spoke last night. We love Dana White, right? UFC. That’s like He puts in two fighters. One of them’s getting creamed, getting really beaten, and they say, right, take him out. Let’s put somebody else in to finish up the fight. That’s what they did to us. They gave us somebody new, but we took care of both of them. So we beat actually 2, we beat actually 2 opponents. But to stop the weaponization of law enforcement and our government, I will also sign an order directing every federal agency to preserve all records pertaining to political persecutions under the last administration, of which there were many, and beginning the process of exposing any and all abuses of power, even though he’s pardoned many of these people. Can you believe it? He’s pardoned them. You know why he did it while I was speaking because that way I couldn’t speak about it. I was speaking. I didn’t know he did it. I finished my speech and they said, sir, he pardoned his whole family. I said, Oh, can I go back out there and talk about it? Somehow that wouldn’t be very elegant. Our first lady would say, please don’t do that. But we have plenty of time to talk about it, and we will. We’re doing all of this on our very first day in office, you know, don’t forget we’ve been in this position really where we won the primaries in record time. We’re the fastest win of *** primary ever in political history, which is *** very nice thing. It’s nice to know well. The 2nd election was rigged, so we knew we were doing well. And if it wasn’t, you know what, if it wasn’t, I would have never, I would have never run, but the third one was just *** monster boy was that *** big one,? That was *** big one. On the second one we got like 10 or 12 million votes more than the first one. How about that? We did great on the first one. We did much better on the second one. But bad did we do well in the 3rd 1, so we’re gonna. We’re gonna have some fun. It’s very simple. We’re gonna make our country great. We’re gonna make our country great again. We’re gonna make America great again. How good *** name is MAGA though, right? You know, I was going to say keep America great, but unfortunately it wasn’t great. Can’t say keep it great. It will be great again, but KAG keep America great.A, I don’t think it’s ever going to replace MAGA. Does anybody like KA? I don’t think so. Never replacing MAGA. Nothing will ever replace MAGA. MAGA was the most successful. Political operation, political movement in the history of our country, maybe in the history of the world. Let’s see what happens because we’re not finished yet. We’re not finished yet. We got *** long way to go. But we’re doing this on the very first day in office, and in just *** few moments I’m not only signing the release of the J-6 hostages, I’m signing other things that you’re gonna love. Oh, you’re gonna be happy reading newspapers tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day. So I just want to thank, I mean, look at this place it’s full to the rafters, you don’t have any look at those people up there. You don’t have any empty seats, and by the way, the Capitol One owners. They are so good we got to root for their teams because they have been so great to MAGA to us, and I just want to thank Ted and everybody. You guys have been fantastic in there the ice hockey team’s doing great. Ovechkin Ovechkin’s pretty good, right? They’re doing great, so I want to thank them. Capital One Arena owners, they, they have been absolutely fantastic. And thank you once again to everyone, and I can only tell you you’re going to be very happy. You’re going to watch *** lot of good things happen. We’ve got to stop some wars that are happening and going on. Some stupid things are happening. The war with Ukraine would have never happened and it has, as you know, Israel would have never been hit on October 7th, and none of you would be up here. None of you would even know anything about this tragedy that you’re going through right now, but Iran was broke. Anybody that bought oil from Iran, they couldn’t do any business with us. You’re not gonna do business with America. China passed, everybody passed. They were broke. They didn’t have money for Hamas. They didn’t have money for Hezbollah. And your sons would be alive and they certainly wouldn’t be incarcerated like they are it’s such *** shame, but we’re we’re getting *** lot of people out in *** short period of time. So I’m gonna go right over to here and I’m gonna sign in front of you. Is that OK? Good. JD Do you have that other one to sign. So you have the other one to? We don’t, we don’t have it over here yet, sir. We’ll have it for you. The first is the rescissions of 78 Biden era EOs and presidential memoranda. You want you want to say if you want me to, sir, why don’t you say what I’m saying? Sure, the first item that President Trump is signing is the rescission of 78 Biden era executive actions, executive orders, presidential memoranda, and others. Thank you, sir. Thank you. The second item, President Trump is *** regulatory freeze as you announced in your speech, preventing bureaucrats from issuing any more regulations until we have full control of the government and this administration. Thank you. The next item, sir, is *** freeze on all federal hiring, accepting the military and *** number of other excluded categories again until full control of the government is achieved, and we understand the objectives of government going forward. I have. Could you imagine Biden doing this? I don’t think so. I don’t think so. Sir, the next item as you announced in your speech is *** requirement that federal workers return to full-time in-person work immediately. Thank you sir. Next, we have *** directive to every department and agency in the federal government to address the cost of living crisis that has cost Americans so dearly. Thank you, sir. The next item here is the withdrawal from the Paris climate treaty. So you Yes, sir. We’re going to save over $1 trillion by withdrawing from that treaty. And the next item, sir, is *** letter that will be transmitted to the United Nations explaining that we are withdrawing from the Paris climate treaty. Thank you, sir. This next item is *** directive to the federal government ordering the restoration of freedom of speech and preventing government censorship of free speech going forward. And lastly, sir, before we go back to the Oval Office to sign *** large number of other items is *** directive to the federal government ending the weaponization of government against the political adversaries of the previous administration, as we’ve seen. Thank you very much, sir. Appreciate it. It’s *** pretty fun job They I was once in your shoes. Someone came up to me. Take *** walk up the street.
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Trump wants to pull the US out of the World Health Organization again. Here’s what may happen next
Updated: 1:36 AM EST Jan 21, 2025
President Donald Trump used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization for the second time in less than five years — a move many scientists fear could roll back decades-long gains made in fighting infectious diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Experts have also cautioned that withdrawing from the organization could weaken the world’s defenses against dangerous new outbreaks capable of triggering pandemics.Here’s a look at what Trump’s decision means: During the first Oval Office appearance of his second term, Trump signed an executive order detailing how the withdrawal process might begin. “Ooh,” Trump exclaimed as he was handed the action to sign. “That’s a big one!”His move calls for pausing the future transfer of U.S. government funds to the organization, recalling and reassigning federal personnel and contractors working with the WHO and calls on officials to “identify credible and transparent United States and international partners to assume necessary activities previously undertaken by” the organization.This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to sever ties with WHO. In July 2020, several months after WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic and as cases surged globally, Trump’s administration officially notified U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the U.S. was planning to pull out of WHO, suspending funding to the agency.President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s decision on his first day in office in January 2021 — only to have Trump essentially revive it on his first day back at the White House. Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of the advocacy group Resolve to Save Lives, said Trump’s move “makes Americans — and the world — less safe.””Withdrawing from WHO not only cuts crucial funding from the agency, but it also surrenders our role as a global health leader and silences America’s voice in critical decisions affecting global health security,” Frieden said in a statement. “Real reform requires engagement, not abandonment. We cannot make WHO more effective by walking away from it. This decision weakens America’s influence and increases the risk of a deadly pandemic.” It is the U.N.’s specialized health agency and is mandated to coordinate the world’s response to global health threats, including outbreaks of mpox, Ebola and polio. It also provides technical assistance to poorer countries, helps distribute scarce vaccines, supplies and treatments and sets guidelines for hundreds of health conditions, including mental health and cancer.”A U.S. withdrawal from WHO would make the world far less healthy and safe,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Global Health Law at Georgetown University. He said in an email that losing American resources would devastate WHO’s global surveillance and epidemic response efforts. “It would make it more likely that we could see novel diseases spinning out of control, crossing borders, and potentially sparking a pandemic,” he said. Yes, as long as he gets the approval of Congress and the U.S. meets its financial obligations to WHO for the current fiscal year. The U.S. joined WHO via a 1948 joint resolution passed by both chambers of Congress, which has subsequently been supported by all administrations. The resolution requires the U.S. to provide a one-year notice period should it decide to leave WHO. It’s extremely bad. The U.S. has historically been among WHO’s biggest donors, providing the U.N. health agency not only with hundreds of millions of dollars, but also hundreds of staffers with specialized public health expertise. In the last decade, the U.S. has given WHO about $160 million to $815 million every year. WHO’s yearly budget is about $2 billion to $3 billion. Losing U.S. funding could cripple numerous global health initiatives, including the effort to eradicate polio, maternal and child health programs, and research to identify new viral threats. Numerous American agencies that work with WHO would also suffer, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. Leaving WHO would exclude the U.S. from WHO-coordinated initiatives, like determining the yearly composition of flu vaccines and missions to countries battling dangerous epidemics. American scientists would also lose quick access to critical genetic databases run by WHO, which could stall attempts to produce vaccines and medicines. At a September campaign rally, Trump said he would “take on the corruption” at WHO and other public health institutions that he said were “dominated” by corporate power and China. Trump has also said that the U.S. contributed far more to WHO than China did and complained that China “totally controls” the U.N. health agency. “And now, they want to give control over our whole country to them, which would be a terrible mistake,” he said.WHO typically issues advice to its member countries about how to handle health crises, but the agency has no authority to compel countries to act. In 2020, Trump alleged WHO was “colluding” with China to hide the extent of the coronavirus’ spread in the early days of the pandemic. An AP investigation in June 2020 found that China withheld crucial details about the virus shortly after it emerged, frustrating WHO’s efforts to assess its potential for danger and stop its spread. “We really believe in cooperation … and from our side, we are ready to work together,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a December news conference. Tedros said the relationship between WHO and the U.S. “has actually been a good model of partnership,” saying he believed American leaders understand the U.S. cannot be safe from health threats unless the entire world is safe. He noted that when Ebola struck a war-torn part of Congo in 2018, no American first responders were involved. “It was WHO and partners who help(ed) the (Congolese) government … to contain that outbreak.”Cheng reported from London.
President Donald Trump used one of the flurry of executive actions that he issued on his first day back in the White House to begin the process of withdrawing the U.S. from the World Health Organization for the second time in less than five years — a move many scientists fear could roll back decades-long gains made in fighting infectious diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
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Experts have also cautioned that withdrawing from the organization could weaken the world’s defenses against dangerous new outbreaks capable of triggering pandemics.
Here’s a look at what Trump’s decision means:
During the first Oval Office appearance of his second term, Trump signed an executive order detailing how the withdrawal process might begin.
“Ooh,” Trump exclaimed as he was handed the action to sign. “That’s a big one!”
His move calls for pausing the future transfer of U.S. government funds to the organization, recalling and reassigning federal personnel and contractors working with the WHO and calls on officials to “identify credible and transparent United States and international partners to assume necessary activities previously undertaken by” the organization.
This isn’t the first time Trump has tried to sever ties with WHO. In July 2020, several months after WHO declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic and as cases surged globally, Trump’s administration officially notified U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the U.S. was planning to pull out of WHO, suspending funding to the agency.
President Joe Biden reversed Trump’s decision on his first day in office in January 2021 — only to have Trump essentially revive it on his first day back at the White House.
Dr. Tom Frieden, president and CEO of the advocacy group Resolve to Save Lives, said Trump’s move “makes Americans — and the world — less safe.”
“Withdrawing from WHO not only cuts crucial funding from the agency, but it also surrenders our role as a global health leader and silences America’s voice in critical decisions affecting global health security,” Frieden said in a statement. “Real reform requires engagement, not abandonment. We cannot make WHO more effective by walking away from it. This decision weakens America’s influence and increases the risk of a deadly pandemic.”
It is the U.N.’s specialized health agency and is mandated to coordinate the world’s response to global health threats, including outbreaks of mpox, Ebola and polio. It also provides technical assistance to poorer countries, helps distribute scarce vaccines, supplies and treatments and sets guidelines for hundreds of health conditions, including mental health and cancer.
“A U.S. withdrawal from WHO would make the world far less healthy and safe,” said Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Global Health Law at Georgetown University. He said in an email that losing American resources would devastate WHO’s global surveillance and epidemic response efforts.
“It would make it more likely that we could see novel diseases spinning out of control, crossing borders, and potentially sparking a pandemic,” he said.
Yes, as long as he gets the approval of Congress and the U.S. meets its financial obligations to WHO for the current fiscal year. The U.S. joined WHO via a 1948 joint resolution passed by both chambers of Congress, which has subsequently been supported by all administrations. The resolution requires the U.S. to provide a one-year notice period should it decide to leave WHO.
It’s extremely bad. The U.S. has historically been among WHO’s biggest donors, providing the U.N. health agency not only with hundreds of millions of dollars, but also hundreds of staffers with specialized public health expertise.
In the last decade, the U.S. has given WHO about $160 million to $815 million every year. WHO’s yearly budget is about $2 billion to $3 billion. Losing U.S. funding could cripple numerous global health initiatives, including the effort to eradicate polio, maternal and child health programs, and research to identify new viral threats.
Numerous American agencies that work with WHO would also suffer, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. Leaving WHO would exclude the U.S. from WHO-coordinated initiatives, like determining the yearly composition of flu vaccines and missions to countries battling dangerous epidemics. American scientists would also lose quick access to critical genetic databases run by WHO, which could stall attempts to produce vaccines and medicines.
At a September campaign rally, Trump said he would “take on the corruption” at WHO and other public health institutions that he said were “dominated” by corporate power and China. Trump has also said that the U.S. contributed far more to WHO than China did and complained that China “totally controls” the U.N. health agency. “And now, they want to give control over our whole country to them, which would be a terrible mistake,” he said.
WHO typically issues advice to its member countries about how to handle health crises, but the agency has no authority to compel countries to act.
In 2020, Trump alleged WHO was “colluding” with China to hide the extent of the coronavirus’ spread in the early days of the pandemic. An AP investigation in June 2020 found that China withheld crucial details about the virus shortly after it emerged, frustrating WHO’s efforts to assess its potential for danger and stop its spread.
“We really believe in cooperation … and from our side, we are ready to work together,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a December news conference. Tedros said the relationship between WHO and the U.S. “has actually been a good model of partnership,” saying he believed American leaders understand the U.S. cannot be safe from health threats unless the entire world is safe.
He noted that when Ebola struck a war-torn part of Congo in 2018, no American first responders were involved. “It was WHO and partners who help(ed) the (Congolese) government … to contain that outbreak.”
Cheng reported from London.
