Donald Trump has announced the severance of all US ties with the World Health Organisation, three weeks ahead of a deadline he laid down earlier this month.
In a speech in the White House Rose Garden which was chiefly devoted to castigating China, and threatening new sanctions over its actions in Hong Kong, the president claimed that “China has total control over” the WHO.
“We have detailed the reforms that it must make and engage with them directly, but they have refused to act because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms,” Trump said.
“We will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs.”
The US is the biggest funder of the global health body, paying about $450m in membership dues and voluntary contributions for specific programmes.
On May 19, Trump sent a four-page letter to the WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warning he would permanently cut US funding of the WHO and reconsider US membership if the organisation did “not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days.”
He announced US withdrawal on Friday, only 10 days after the letter.
After that ultimatum was announced, a few US health officials urged the WHO to signal its willingness to change to the Trump administration in the hope it would change the president’s mind, but US sources said there was no concerted dialogue between the administration and the WHO over reform.
Earlier this month, the World Health Assembly (WHA) of member states agreed there should be a thorough review of the organisation’s response to the pandemic.
The US had lobbied to have Taiwan invited to the assembly as an observer, and had significant western support for the proposal. But European diplomats said the US was half-hearted in its campaign and lost the tussle with China.
