The Trump administration said it will not pay what it owes the World Health Organization, declaring that the United States has officially withdrawn from the agency.
“All U.S. funding for, and staffing of, WHO initiatives has ceased,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy said in a statement on Thursday.
However, questions remain over whether the United States has met the legal conditions required for withdrawal. When the U.S. joined the WHO in 1948, Congress stipulated that withdrawal requires both a one-year notice period and payment of all outstanding financial obligations for the current fiscal year. The U.S. owes $260 million in dues for 2024 and 2025.