US President Donald Trump, in a major shocker, cut the United States ties with the global health agency, the World Health Organisation (WHO), as he issued an executive order to withdraw from the organisation on January 20.
According to the order, the withdrawal was due to the organisation mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and other global health crises. Trump, who had long been critical of the WHO, had earlier also formally withdrawn the US from the WHO back in July 2020 as COVID-19 continued to spread.
“The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organisation in 2020 due to the organisation’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,” the order read.
Additionally, Trump stated that the WHO continues to demand payments from the US that are disproportionate to those required from other countries, criticising the financial demands, stating that the payments required of the US are significantly higher than those of other nations.
“In addition, the WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments. 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,” the order further read.
While addressing the media in the Oval Office following his swearing-in ceremony, Trump stated that the US had paid USD 500 million to the WHO, while China, with a population of 1.4 billion, contributed USD 39 million, noting that it was unfair, leading to this decision.
“We paid 500 million dollars to the World Health Organisation when I was here and I terminated it. China, with 1.4 billion people, was paying 39 million. We were paying 500 million. It seemed a little unfair to me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Trump also addressed the US-TikTok deal, mentioning that if China did not approve the deal, the US could impose tariffs on China.
“If China didn’t approve it (the US-TikTok deal), we could put tariffs on China. Don’t forget. China charges us tariffs and we charge them very little except for what I did–I put a lot in, and we took in hundreds and billions of dollars. But until I came along, China never paid 10 cents to this country. They ripped us off and they never paid anything. If we wanted to make a deal with TikTok and it was a good deal, and China wouldn’t approve it, then I think ultimately they’d approve it because we would put tariffs on China. I am not saying I would but you certainly could do that,” the US President added.
Earlier in the day, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States at the US Capitol in Washington, DC. US Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath to Trump. Prior to Trump’s swearing-in, JD Vance was sworn in as the 50th US Vice President.
