US President Donald Trump orders US to ‘exit’ WHO: Bloomberg report
The move will cut off significant funding to the international aid group.
STC NEWS MONITORING DESK
JANUARY 21: In a ‘big move’, US President Donald Trump is reported to have signed an executive order directing the US to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO). It is a decision that would cut off one of the international aid and disease response group’s largest funding sources.
A Bloomberg report says the details of the order, among a flurry of executive actions Trump signed Monday in the Oval Office, were not immediately available.
“That’s a big one,” Trump said before signing the document.
A potential US exit could significantly impact its funding. In the 2024-25 budget cycle, US contributions amounted to $662 million, or 19% of the organization’s total revenue, according to the WHO.
As reported by Bloomberg, toward the end of his first term, Trump attempted to withdraw the US from the WHO, criticising the body for being too deferential to the Chinese government in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak and for not acting swiftly enough to contain the disease.
According to the media reports, the order also says the future transfer of any US Government funds, support or resources to the WHO should be paused, and the director of the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy “shall review, rescind and replace the 2024 US Global Health Security Strategy as soon as practicable.”
Meanwhile, a 2020 Congressional Research Service report says, it is unclear whether the American president has the authority to withdraw from the WHO without Congressional approval. However, the likelihood of a Republican-controlled Congress blocking Trump’s decision seems minimal.
The decision was widely condemned by health advocates and Democratic lawmakers, who saw it as a political move to shift blame for the administration’s poor handling of the pandemic, the report said. (STC)
