Expert Says Trump's Transition Team Is Preparing To Withdraw The United States From WHO

WHO illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/United States Mission Geneva)

JAKARTA - Member of the President-electial transition team Donald Trump is preparing a basis for the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the first day of his second term, said an expert familiar with the matter.

"I got reliable information that he plans to withdraw, perhaps on the first or very early days of his administration," Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health at University ofwashingtonand WHO's Central Director of Collaboration for National and Global Health Laws, told Reuters December 24.

The Financial Times was the first to report the plan, citing two experts. The second expert, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, was not immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, Trump's transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The plan, which has been in line with Trump's long-standing criticism of the United Nations agency, will mark dramatic changes to US global health policies and further isolate Washington from international efforts to combat the pandemic.

Trump has nominated a number of critics of the organization to occupy key positions in the public health sector, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine who will hold the post of Secretary of Health and Humanitarian Services, which oversees all major health agencies of Uncle Sam's country, including the CDC and the FDA.

Trump started the year-long withdrawal process from WHO in 2020. However, six months later his successor, President Joe Biden, overturned the decision.

Trump argues that WHO failed to hold China accountable for the initial spread of COVID-19. He has repeatedly referred to WHO as a Beijing doll and pledged to shift US contribution to domestic health initiatives.

Separately, a WHO spokesman declined to comment in person, but referred Reuters to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' comments at a press conference on December 10, when he was asked if he was worried the Trump administration would withdraw from the organization.

Tedros said at the time, WHO needed to give the US time and space for the transition. He also voiced his belief that member states could finalize a pandemic agreement in May 2025.

Meanwhile, critics warn US withdrawals could undermine global disease surveillance and emergency response systems.

"The US will lose influence and influence in global health and China will fill the void. I can't imagine a world without a strong WHO. However, the US withdrawal will greatly weaken the agency," said Gostin.