POLITICS
Trump’s pullout order could leave WHO budget tightened
January 22, 2025 - President Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the World Health Organization leaves it facing a major blow to its budget and could impact the agency’s ability to tackle global public health threats.
Trump said the WHO had failed to act independently from the “inappropriate political influence of WHO member states” and required “unfairly onerous payments” from the U.S. that were disproportionate to the sums provided by other, larger countries, such as China.
The move sets a 12-month notice period for the U.S. to leave the UN health agency and stop all financial contributions to its work. The U.S. is by far the WHO’s biggest financial backer. Its most recent two-year budget, for 2024-2025, was $6.8 billion.
A U.S. withdrawal could have an impact on the WHO’s ability to respond to emergencies such as an Ebola outbreak, or MPOX – let alone another Covid-19-style pandemic.