Trump has ordered the US to leave the World Health Organization

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization (WHO).

“Oooh, this is big,” said the impeached US president when he accepted the document after returning to the White House. It was one of dozens of executive actions he signed on the first day.

This is the second time Trump has ordered the US to withdraw from the WHO.

Trump criticized the international body’s handling of Covid-19 and began the process of withdrawing from the Geneva body during the pandemic. President Joe Biden later reversed that decision.

Taking this executive action on the first day is likely to mean that the US will formally leave the global agency.

“They wanted us back so bad, we’ll see what happens,” Trump said in the Oval Office, referring to the WHO, suggesting the US may eventually return.

The order said the US was withdrawing “due to the organization’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic that emerged from Wuhan, China and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgent reforms and its inability to demonstrate independence from inappropriate political influence by WHO member states.”

The executive order also said the withdrawal is the result of “unfair payments” made by the US to the WHO, which is part of the United Nations.

When Trump was still in office for the first time, he criticized the organization for being “China-centric” in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Trump has accused the WHO of being biased against China in issuing guidelines during the outbreak.

Under the Biden administration, the US remained the largest funder of the WHO and provided almost one-fifth of the agency’s budget in 2023.

The organization’s annual budget is $6.8m (£5.5m).

Funding may disappear almost immediately, and it’s unclear whether other nations will step up to fill the gap.

A US withdrawal could affect the WHO’s ability to respond to emergencies such as an Ebola outbreak or MPOX, let alone another Covid-19-style pandemic.

Public health experts have suggested that there could be other consequences for Americans’ health if progress is reversed in fighting infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS.

Ashish Jha, who previously served as the co-ordinator of the Covid-19 response under President Biden, previously warned that the withdrawal would “harm not only the health of people around the world, but also US leadership and scientific expertise”.

“This is a cataclysmic decision by the president. Withdrawal is a serious wound to world health, but an even deeper wound to the US,” said Lawrence Gostin, a global public health expert and professor at Georgetown University.

There are also concerns that America’s withdrawal could ultimately open the door to greater Chinese influence, globally, no less.

The pros of the move are few, but some say it could lead to further reforms in the way the WHO works, meaning it better responds to the public health needs of people around the world.

If that happens, it could be enough to tempt the US back. However, the tone of the language coming from Washington suggests that this second attempt by President Trump to withdraw the US from the international health organization will not be reconsidered.