The United States said Thursday it has completed the process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), accusing the agency of mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic, failing to carry out internal reforms and being susceptible to “political influence” from some member states.
In his inaugural address on Jan. 20 last year, President Donald Trump directed the United States to leave the U.N. health body, in line with a preelection pledge, as well as to exit the Paris climate agreement as it had previously done under his first administration.
The U.S. withdrawal, reflecting Trump’s general skepticism of multilateralism, will likely have negative consequences for global efforts to prevent and control infectious diseases.
For decades, the United States was the largest financial contributor to the WHO, a Geneva-based organization of more than 190 member states tasked with formulating a coherent global health policy.
U.S. researchers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have played a central role in global efforts to counter infectious diseases.
However, the Trump administration said that within one year, it had stopped funding the WHO, withdrawn all U.S. officials and begun shifting activities previously conducted with the agency to “bilateral engagements” with other countries or institutions.
From now on, the United States will be cooperating with the WHO “solely in a limited fashion to effectuate our withdrawal,” the administration said.
“Like many international organizations, the WHO abandoned its core mission and acted repeatedly against the interests of the United States,” said a joint statement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Although the United States was a founding member and the WHO’s largest financial contributor, the organization pursued a politicized, bureaucratic agenda driven by nations hostile to American interests,” it added.
A WHO withdrawal requires a one-year prior notification, which the United States made on Jan. 22, 2025, and payment of outstanding fees.
Established in 1948, the WHO has no provision that allows for withdrawal. The United States is an exception, however, having agreed with the WHO at its founding that the country’s exit would be permitted upon prior notification and payment of dues.
According to the agency, the United States has not yet paid its 2024 and 2025 fees, totaling around $260 million.
At its executive board meeting in February and other gatherings, the WHO plans to discuss how to address the validity of the U.S. withdrawal without the required payment.
In 2020, during Trump’s first term, the United States notified the United Nations of its intention to exit the WHO, criticizing the organization for what his administration called its China-centric positions in the fight against the pandemic.
But the administration of President Joe Biden, which took office the following year, invalidated the process of pulling the United States out of the WHO.
