Trump Says U.S. Breaks Relationship with WHO over Management of VOC Pandemic-19
US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he has decided to "break" his country's relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO), which he accuses of having mismanaged the COVID-19 health emergency, by believing too much in the information provided by China. "Today, we will break our relationship with the World Health Organization," Trump announced in a statement to the press from the White House, in which he accepted no questions.
On April 14, Trump ordered a temporary freeze on the funds that the United States, as the main donor, provides to the WHO while he reviewed the agency's role in what he defined as "the serious mishandling and cover-up of the spread of the coronavirus. Last week, Trump gave the agency 30 days to implement reforms, which neither he nor the White House publicly detailed, and warned that if he did not, he would permanently cut off the funds and his country would leave the institution. Although not even half of that period has passed, Trump ended it on Friday when he stated that the WHO "has refused to act" and to "undertake the reforms requested" by the United States, so he has decided to break the relationship with the agency.
The White House did not immediately give details on the matter, but it is expected that Trump's announcement will mean the permanent suspension of his country's contribution to the organization, which amounts to between 400 and 500 million dollars a year, which is approximately 15% of the agency's total budget. "China has total control over the WHO, despite paying only $40 million a year, while the United States pays approximately $450 million," Trump stressed.
Faced with the prospect of losing its major contributor, the WHO this week launched a foundation of the same name with which the agency will be able to receive donations from individuals, companies or other actors. The president of the United States, which with more than 1.7 million people infected is the country most affected by the pandemic, accuses the WHO of having mismanaged the global health emergency, especially in the initial stages of the crisis, by believing too much the information provided by the Chinese authorities.
In response, the WHO, which defends the initial Chinese management, assures that it has been issuing timely warnings about the seriousness of the COVID-19 since January and already decreed the international emergency on Jan. 30, when more than 90 percent of the cases were still concentrated in Chinese territory.
Throughout his more than three years in the White House, Trump has not shaken his hand in breaking with the international consensus by withdrawing the United States from UNESCO, the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Paris Agreement on the climate crisis or the nuclear pact with Iran. The United States, which has already surpassed 101,000 deaths from the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, is still unable to halt the advance of the disease, from which 1.7 million people in this country have been infected.