Trump withdraws US from WHO
WASHINGTON—PRESIDENT Donald Trump announced the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) for cooperating with China in dealing with the pandemic.
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), accusing the UN agency of becoming a puppet of China.
The move to quit the Geneva-based body, which the United States formally joined in 1948, comes amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over the new coronavirus outbreak as the American leader prepared to seek reelection in November.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said Chinese officials “ignored their reporting obligations” to the WHO about the virus—that has killed hundreds of thousands of people globally—and pressured the agency to “mislead the world.”
“China has total control over the World Health Organization despite only paying $40 million per year compared to what the United States has been paying which is approximately $450 million a year,” he said.
Trump’s decision follows a pledge last week by Chinese President Xi Jinping to give $2 billion to the WHO over the next two years to help combat the new coronavirus. The amount almost matches the WHO’S entire annual program budget for last year.
Funding halted
Trump last month halted funding for the 194-member organization, then in a May 18 letter gave the WHO 30 days to commit to reforms.
“Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs,” Trump said on Friday.
It was not immediately clear when his decision would come into effect. A 1948 US congressional resolution on membership in the WHO said the country “reserves its right to withdraw from the organization on a one-year notice.”
The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s announcement but it had previously denied Trump’s assertions that it promoted Chinese “disinformation” about the virus.
Tossing the blame
“It’s important to remember that the WHO is a platform for cooperation among countries,” said Donna Mckay, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights. “Walking away from this critical institution in the midst of an historic pandemic will hurt people both in the United States and around the world.”
The United States currently owes the WHO more than $200 million in assessed contributions, according to the WHO website. Washington also gives several hundred million dollars annually in voluntary funding tied to specific programs, such as polio eradication, HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis.
Amesh A. Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said that in practice Trump’s decision was unlikely to change the operations of the WHO.
“From a symbolic or moral standpoint it’s the wrong type of action to be taking in the middle of a pandemic and seems to deflect responsibility for what we in the US failed to do and blame the WHO,” said Adalja.
When Trump halted funding last month, two Western diplomats said the US suspension was more harmful politically to the WHO than to the agency’s current programs, which are funded for now.
The WHO is an independent international body that works with the United Nations. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said last month that the WHO is “absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against COVID-19.”
Trump has long scorned multilateralism as he focuses on his “America First” agenda. Since taking office, he has quit the UN Human Rights Council, the UN cultural agency, a global accord to tackle climate change and the Iran nuclear deal. He has also cut funding for the UN population fund and the UN agency that aids Palestinian refugees.