Trump withdrawing US from WHO would be a 'strategic mistake'
Donald Trump is set to pull the United States out of the WHO on the first day of his presidency. Experts warn that the move would be harmful for both parties.
Trump, who will be inaugurated for a second and final term as US president on January 20, also tried to withdraw from the WHO in July 2020, at the end of his first administration.
But fully cutting ties with the WHO couldn't happen overnight due to a long-standing congressional resolution requiring the president to give a year's notice and pay back any outstanding obligations.
Because of that timeline, Joe Biden's election to the presidency in 2020 just months after Trump's decree, enabled the Democrat to reverse the decision.
Trump's likely move will face no such barriers this time around. On his first day in office, he could give notice of a US withdrawal from the WHO, which would then take effect in January 2026.
If the US did withdraw from the WHO, it would be a major blow to the organization's budget and its ability to coordinate international health programs and policy.
The WHO is a United Nations agency comprised of 196 member countries, which pay into the organization via "assessed contributions" — effectively a membership fee — based........
© Deutsche Welle
