Newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the U.S. to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO).
In 2020, Trump started the ball rolling toward extricating the U.S. from the United Nations agency, but President Joe Biden reversed course after taking office in 2021.
‘The United States intends to withdraw from the WHO. The Presidential Letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations signed on January 20, 2021, that retracted the United States’ July 6, 2020, notification of withdrawal is revoked,’ Trump’s order declares.
‘The Secretary of State shall immediately inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations, any other applicable depositary, and the leadership of the WHO of the withdrawal,’ the order instructs.
The U.S. Senate voted 99-0 on Monday to confirm Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to serve as Secretary of State — Rubio voted for himself before resigning from the Senate.
Trump’s order calls for the Secretary of State and director of the Office of Management and Budget to ‘pause the future transfer of any United States Government funds, support, or resources to the WHO;’ ‘recall and reassign United States Government personnel or contractors working in any capacity with the WHO;’ as well as ‘identify credible and transparent United States and international partners to assume necessary activities previously undertaken by the WHO.’
