Second attempt Trump orders US withdrawal from the World Health Organization A withdrawal from the UN health agency is a year-long process. Beth Mole Jan 20, 2025 10:35 pm | 29 World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Credit: Getty | Fabrice Cof World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Credit: Getty | Fabrice Cof Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOn his first day in office, President Trump issued an executive order to withdrawal the US from the World Health Organization, a process that requires a one-year notice period as set out in a 1948 Joint Resolution of Congress.Trump initially tried to extract the US from the United Nations health agency in July 2020, but the process did not come to completion before he was voted out of office.At the time, Trump criticized the agency's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, claimed it was protecting China, and asserted that it was overcharging the US in dues. "China has total control over the World Health Organization despite only paying $40 million per year, compared to what the United States has been paying, which is approximately $450 million a year," Trump said in 2020 prior to issuing the first notice of withdrawal.President Biden rescinded the withdrawal notice on his first day in office in January 2021.In the executive order issued today, Trump reinstated the withdrawal while reiterating the original reasoning for the departure:The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organizations mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states. In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries assessed payments. China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO.Health experts fear that a US withdrawal from the agency would significantly diminish the agency's resources and capabilities, leave the world more vulnerable to health threats, and isolate the US, hurting its own interests and leaving the country less prepared to respond to another pandemic. The New York Times noted that a withdrawal would mean that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would lose, among many things, access to global health data that the WHO compiles.It remains legally unclear if Trump can unilaterally withdrawal the country from the WHO, or if the withdrawal also requires a joint act with Congress.Beth MoleSenior Health ReporterBeth MoleSenior Health Reporter Beth is Ars Technicas Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes. 29 Comments