The Trump administration officially notified the U. N. that the U. S. will exit the World Health Organization in 2021, despite warnings from public health experts that the move will only make the coronavirus pandemic and future threats more dangerous.
The Trump administration has officially notified the United Nations that the U. S. will withdraw from the World Health Organization, formally beginning a one-year process to sever America’s ties with the international public health agency and thus cut off one its largest sources of funding. The move follows months of attacks on the organization by President Trump, who has criticized the WHO over its handling of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. No country has been hit harder by coronavirus than the U. S., which currently leads the world — by a considerable margin — in both COVID-19 infections and deaths, and Trump’s attacks on the WHO have been widely seen as an attempt to shift the blame for his and his administration’s own mishandling of the pandemic.
It is also not clear if the Trump administration can pull the U. S. from the WHO without Congressional authorization, which he seems very unlikely to be able to secure. Should Trump fail to win a second term this fall, a prospective Biden administration would also undoubtedly reverse his decision.
