The U.N. agency has received a formal request from Washington to withdraw next year as Trump orders a moratorium on who funds it.
The United States plans to formally withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2026 after the UN agency received a formal letter from US President Donald Trump this week.
Deputy United Nations spokesman Farhan Haq said on Thursday that the withdrawal was now in motion after Trump pledged on Monday, his first day in office, to withdraw anyone and end the organization’s future funding. .
“I can confirm that we have received the US letter regarding the WHO withdrawal. It has a date of January 22, 2025. It will take one year from yesterday to January 22, 2026,” Haq said.
Trump also ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the director of the U.S. government’s Office of Management and Budget to “suspend any future transfers of U.S. government funding, support, or resources to the WHO.”
Washington recalled all U.S. government officials working with the WHO and ordered them to cease participating in negotiations for the WHO-LED Global Treaty on Pandemic Response.
With the departure of the United States, the WHO loses its most important financial supporter.
The United States contributes about 18% of the organization’s funding, amounting to about $261 million between 2024 and 2025. China continues in second place with a contribution of $181 million. Experts say the loss of WHO’s top donor will impact the global health agency’s ability to address major crises from tuberculosis to HIV/AIDS and global pandemics.
Trump accused the WHO of mishandling the Covid-19 pandemic during his first term and sent a request to withdraw from the organization in July 2020.
That withdrawal attempt was thwarted when Trump lost the presidential election to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Many health experts have accused Trump and his administration of botching the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
On Tuesday, the WHO issued a statement saying it regretted the announced U.S. departure, noting that its work “plays a critical role in protecting the health and safety of people around the world, including Americans.”
“We hope the United States will reconsider. We look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain a partnership with the United States for the health and well-being of millions of people around the world and for everyone.” ” said Who.
According to Jean Galbraith, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, the United States joined the WHO in 1948 through a joint resolution from both houses of Congress.
Trump’s Republicans control both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, but the withdrawal could still be challenged in court, legal experts said. “Trump made a unilateral decision to withdraw from Who. But we joined Who by an act of Congress in 1948.” one Lawrence Gostin wrote on social media.
“His decision is too devastating to be made without Congress and the courts. As director of the WHO Center, I am considering litigation,” Gostin says.
Trump made a unilateral decision to draw from whom. But we joined whom by act of Congress in 1948. Trump needs Congress to approve the withdrawal. His decision is too devastating to be made without Congress and the courts. As director of the WHO Center, I am considering litigation.
— Lawrence Gostin (@lawrencegostin) January 21, 2025