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Trump threatens to permanently cut WHO funding and withdraw US membership

President Donald Trump threatened to permanently cut U.S. funding to the World Health Organization and "reconsider" membership if the WHO does not adopt "major substantive improvements" within 30 days.

Trump's demands, made in a letter Tuesday to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, are an escalation of his attacks on the organization. He accused the WHO of "repeated missteps" during the coronavirus pandemic and demanded it "demonstrate independence" from China.

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"My administration has already started discussions with you on how to reform the organization. But action is needed quickly. We do not have time to waste," Trump wrote in his ultimatum, which comes about a month after he froze WHO funding, pending a formal investigation into the international health body and its coronavirus response.

The letter lists Trump's allegations that the United Nations agency missed warning signs of the virus's spread, then blithely accepted China's lack of transparency over the outbreak. The WHO initially circulated preliminary Chinese claims that there was no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus.  

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In his letter, Trump did not outline specific actions the WHO needs to take to satisfy his demands. Monday, Trump called the U.N. health body a "puppet of China."

Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for China's foreign ministry, said Trump's letter was "smearing and slandering China’s efforts in epidemic prevention." He called it a Trump administration attempt "to shift responsibility in its own incompetence in handling the epidemic."

The WHO said in a statement it was "considering the contents" of Trump's letter, but otherwise, it had no comment. 

The organization has disputed claims from the Trump administration that it acted too slowly in sounding the alarm over coronavirus. Public health experts have long warned the agency is overly bureaucratic and in need of reform. Little evidence has emerged to substantiate accusations from Trump administration officials that the WHO deliberately acted in concert with China to obfuscate what it knew about the outbreak. 

Monday, Ghebreyesus said he would launch an independent evaluation of the WHO’s coronavirus response "at the earliest appropriate moment." Chinese leader Xi Jinping said he would support an independent investigation into the pandemic, though it remains unclear whether any such review would probe the origins of the virus. Trump has speculated, without giving evidence, that the coronavirus escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China, where the virus emerged late last year.    

The United States is the WHO's biggest donor. It paid $400 million to the WHO for 2018-2019, according to the organization's website. That money represents about 15% of the WHO's budget. When Trump said last month that he would temporarily freeze WHO spending, he said he would "channel" the money into other areas to combat the coronavirus outbreak. He has not provided specifics on that pledge.  

Among the other accusations made in Trump's letter: 

  • He suggested that the WHO, bowing to pressure from China, delayed an emergency declaration connected to the outbreak. (There is no known evidence for this claim.)
  • He highlighted the global health body's praise of China's government for its "transparency" with respect to the coronavirus, setting a "new standard for outbreak control." (True. The WHO has gone on record that it believes China has done a good job fighting the coronavirus.) 
  • Trump accused the WHO of  "inexplicably" opposing his closure of the U.S. border and travel ban from China. (The WHO has consistently argued for years against closing borders and travel bans during pandemics, saying such actions can exacerbate the spread of infectious disease. But it has not publicly questioned Trump's decision.)
  • He said the agency failed to publicly address accusations of "China's racially discriminatory actions" in China against African nationals. (True.) 
  • Trump suggested The Lancet, a British medical journal, published a report in early December about a virus spreading in Wuhan. (False, according to The Lancet. Its editor said the first reports it published were from Chinese scientists Jan 24.)

Analysis: Trump halts funding to WHO. Experts say we need it now more than ever

The WHO held its annual general assembly online, which ends Tuesday. The forum was dominated by many of its 194 members pushing for a review of how the organization responded to the outbreak. 

In an interview with the BBC, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said it would be "grossly irresponsible in international humanitarian terms" for the United States to permanently withdraw its funding for the WHO because of its potential impact on poor countries around the world where the virus has yet to have its full impact.

"The WHO goes in and advises and/or provides direct material help with the setting up of health systems to deal with the crisis on the ground," he said. 

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