U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the withdrawal of the United States from the World Health Organization on Monday, citing the agency’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises, as well as its failure to “demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.”
Trump has a history of strained relations with WHO. He previously froze funding and initiated the formal withdrawal of the U.S. from the organization during his first term but former President Joe Biden reversed the move on his first day in office.
In an executive order on his first day in office, Trump revoked the retraction. He also asked his secretary of state and the Office of Management and Budget director to pause future transfers of U.S. funding to WHO, recall and reassign U.S. government personnel or contractors working with WHO, and cease negotiations on the pandemic agreement.