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The United States has completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, the Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of State announced Thursday.
The move follows an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on the first day of his second term, formally beginning the yearlong withdrawal process.
In a joint statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the decision was driven by the organization’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and broader concerns about governance and independence.
“Today, the United States withdrew from the World Health Organization, freeing itself from its constraints, as President Trump promised on his first day in office,” the statement said. “This action responds to the WHO’s failures during the COVID-19 pandemic and seeks to rectify the harm from those failures inflicted on the American people.”
The departments said the WHO delayed declaring a global public health emergency and pandemic in the early stages of COVID-19 and failed to implement meaningful reforms after the crisis. The statement also cited concerns about the organization’s ability to operate independently from political influence by member states.
Rubio and Kennedy said the United States will continue limited interactions with the WHO as necessary to finalize the withdrawal process. However, they said all U.S. funding for WHO programs and all American staffing of WHO initiatives have now ended.
The United States had been one of the organization’s largest financial contributors and a major source of technical expertise prior to the withdrawal.
The statement also blasted the WHO’s treatment of America during its exit.
“Even on our way out of the organization, the WHO tarnished and trashed everything that America has done for it,” the statement noted. “The WHO refuses to hand over the American flag that hung in front of it, arguing it has not approved our withdrawal and, in fact, claims that we owe it compensation. From our days as its primary founder, primary financial backer, and primary champion until now, our final day, the insults to America continue.”
The U.S. has paid an average of $111 million a year in member dues to the WHO and roughly $570 million more in annual voluntary contributions, the Associated Press reported.