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Trump Admin Delivers Formal Notice of Withdrawal from WHO

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Ending months of denunciations of the World Health Organization by President Donald Trump over what he said was its failure to promptly alert the world to the dangers of the coronavirus, the Trump administration on Tuesday formally served notice of its plan to withdraw from the WHO.

A notice explaining the intent of the U.S. to withdraw was delivered to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, and a spokesman for Guterres confirmed to Fox News that it had been received.

The White House also notified Congress that the U.S. will leave the WHO effective July 2021, Fox reported.

The move drew swift condemnation from Democrats and supporters of global health initiatives:

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Elizabeth Cousens, president of the United Nations Foundation, said in a statement that the “move to formally withdraw from the W.H.O. amid the greatest public health crisis that Americans and the world have faced in a century is shortsighted, unnecessary, and unequivocally dangerous,” according to The New York Times.

Do you think withdrawing from the WHO is the right decision?

The action is “among the most ruinous presidential decisions in recent history,” Lawrence Gostin, director of the WHO’s Collaborating Center on National & Global Health Law, told The Times.

“It will make Americans less safe during an unprecedented global health crisis,” he said. “And it will significantly weaken U.S. influence on W.H.O. reform and international health diplomacy. This disastrous action is deeply damaging to U.S. national interests.”

Some supported the president, who has been critical of the WHO for months, saying that the organization did China’s bidding in the early days of the coronavirus outbreak instead of protecting the rest of the world:

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In May, Trump made his disdain for the WHO and China clear, and telegraphed Tuesday’s formal action.

“The world is now suffering as a result of the malfeasance of the Chinese government,” Trump said.

“China has total control over the World Health Organization despite only paying $40 million per year compared to what the United States has been paying, which is approximately $450 million a year,” the president added.

“We have detailed the reforms that it must make and engaged with them directly, but they have refused to act,” Trump said at the time.

“Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs.”

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Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack Davis is a freelance writer who joined The Western Journal in July 2015 and chronicled the campaign that saw President Donald Trump elected. Since then, he has written extensively for The Western Journal on the Trump administration as well as foreign policy and military issues.
Jack can be reached at jackwritings1@gmail.com.
Location
New York City
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Foreign Policy, Military & Defense Issues




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