The United States officially withdrew from the World Health Organization on Thursday, slightly over a year after President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO via an executive order on the first day of his second term on Jan. 20, 2026. The decision was primarily due to the WHO’s messy response and failures during the COVID-19 pandemic, an occurrence Trump noted in his 2025 directive.
“The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” read the executive order.
A one-year waiting period was required for the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO to be finalized.
Trump also cited the expenses required associated with being in the WHO, specifically claiming the organization was exploiting the U.S. by demanding “unfair onerous payments” from the U.S. that were disproportionate to the payments required from other nations. This included a significant discrepancy between U.S. payments and payments from China.
“In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments,” Trump’s executive order said. “China, with a population of 1.4 billion, has 300 percent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 percent less to the WHO.”
As a result of the decision to leave the WHO, all government funding to the group has been stopped, according to reports. Additionally, all U.S. employees and contractors working with the WHO have been recalled, and existing U.S. engagements have been “suspended or discontinued,” as well as the country’s role in “WHO-sponsored committees, leadership bodies, governance structures, and technical working groups.”
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After Trump’s order in 2025, the WHO released a statement expressing displeasure with the decision and “regretted” the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO. And, because the U.S. broke its agreement with the WHO, the U.S. was required to resolve any remaining “financial obligations.” However, the State Department said it would not be paying any more funds.
The United States will not be making any payments to the WHO before our withdrawal,” the State Department revealed in a statement. “The cost borne by the U.S. taxpayer and U.S. economy after the WHO’s failure during the COVID pandemic — and since — has been too high as it is.”
