Among many executive orders signed after reaching the White House on Monday evening, President Donald Trump officially withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO), saying the wide-ranging pandemic monitoring organization had “ripped off” the United States.
The United States is the largest donor to the WHO, which monitors outbreaks around the world. The United States is also a major contributor to the work of the WHO, including collaborating with the CDC and NIH on issues such as cancer prevention and global health security.
Trump’s executive order is an attempt to finish what he started during his last presidency, and its success is all but guaranteed this time around. Trump withdrew the United States from the WHO in 2020, but withdrawal requires a year’s notice. Biden took office six months later and revoked Trump’s action before it took effect.
This time around, the U.S. withdrawal is again expected to be a year-long process, confirmed Lawrence Gostin, professor of law and global health at George Washington University and director of the Organization’s Collaborating Center. World Health Organization on public health law. & Human Rights.
But Trump will likely act as if he has already withdrawn, disengaging from the WHO, and without bipartisan agreement from Congress to reverse Trump’s action, which is unlikely, the WHO will officially lose its most major donor by 2026.
“And these are things that really matter to America, like HIV, AIDS, eradicating polio and responding to health emergencies,” Gostin told ABC News. “Really, in my mind, this amounts to shooting yourself in the foot and making America decidedly less safe and less secure.”
UKRAINE – 2024/01/31: In this photo illustration the World Health Organization (WHO) logo is seen on a smartphone and in the background. (Photo illustration by Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Sopa Images/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett
Trump, asked by a reporter Monday evening about his experience leading the country during the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of the WHO in mounting a global response to pandemics, said the withdrawal meant “stepping back get scammed.”
“Everyone is ripping off America and that’s it, it won’t happen again,” Trump said.
The text of the executive order describes an “unfair” requirement for “onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion to payments assessed by other countries.”
“China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, but its contribution to the WHO is nearly 90 percent lower,” the executive order said.
Gostin confirmed that China pays far less to the WHO. “But the fact that China should pay more does not mean we should pay less. This is not leverage against China. This is destroying the World Health Organization,” Gostin said.
The WHO has unparalleled global reach, Gostin said, providing the United States with vital insight into the global health system and enabling collaborations for scientific research. Although he acknowledged that some reforms were needed, he said leaving the organization was “a cataclysmic presidential decision.” it would be a “serious wound to global health, but an even deeper wound to the United States.”