Amid ongoing rancor between the United States of America on one hand and the People’s Republic of China and the World Health Organization, WHO on the other hand, President Donald Trump has announced the termination of its relationship with the health agency.
Trump’s decision to permanently terminate the US relationship with the WHO follows a years-long pattern of skepticism of world organizations, with the President claiming in nearly every circumstance that the US was being taken advantage of.
“Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will today be terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving, urgent global public health needs,” Trump said.
Recall that President Trump had previously announced a temporary halt of funding to the WHO and sent a letter to the agency earlier in May saying that the US would permanently pull funding if the WHO did not “commit to major substantive improvements in the next 30 days.”
His decision was informed by his belief that China was being economical with the truth on the origin of the COVID 19 pandemic. Trump maintained that China had not properly reported information it had about the coronavirus to the World Health Organization and said China had pressured the WHO to “mislead the world.”
“Chinese officials ignored their reporting obligations to the World Health Organization and pressured the World Health Organization to mislead the world when the virus was first discovered by Chinese authorities. Countless lives have been taken and profound economic hardship has been inflicted all around the globe,” Trump said.
Recall also that WHO has come under heavy criticism for relying on official Chinese government figures relating to the virus, numbers which many officials doubt are accurate. It also received criticism for a January 14 tweet noting that preliminary investigation by Chinese authorities had found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus.
Critics have also questioned whether the WHO is independent enough, given China’s rising wealth and power. They point to the WHO’s effusive praise of China’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The President has also said that if the WHO had acted appropriately, he could have instituted a travel ban on people coming from China sooner.
However, Trump’s announcement has received pushback within the Republican party with Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said, “I disagree with the president’s decision.”
“Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it,” Alexander said in a statement.
His remarks were echoed by Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a conservative Democrat who has often shown a willingness to work with Trump and Republicans.
“The United States cannot eliminate this virus on our own and to withdraw from the World Health Organization — the world’s leading public health body — is nothing short of reckless,” Manchin said in a statement. “Throughout our nation’s history, the United States has always risen to lead the world through the crisis and I believe we must continue to do that now.
I strongly urge the President to reconsider this decision and I urge all my Congressional colleagues to speak out. It’s time for us to stand tall,” he continued.
In April, more than 1,000 organizations and individuals including charities, medical experts, and health care companies from around the world signed a letter urging the Trump administration to reverse course and maintain funding.
And when Trump issued his letter in May, European leaders — including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen — delivered messages of support for the WHO while speaking at the World Health Assembly.
“This pandemic has highlighted our vulnerability and made it clear that we need one another,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said. “That’s why more than ever we must be united.”
