Trump announces US withdrawal from WHO, Paris Cliamate Accord
Updated: Jan 21st, 2025
President Donald Trump announced on Monday that he is withdrawing the US from the World Health Organisation, a significant move cutting ties with the United Nation's public health agency on his first day in office.
Trump has long been critical of the WHO, and his administration formally withdrew from the organisation in July 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic continued to spread.
The text of the executive order cites 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," as reasons for the US withdrawal.
"That's a big one," Trump told an aide as he began to sign the executive order, pointing to his 2020 decision and his belief that the US was paying too much money to the organisation compared to other countries.
The order also said that the WHO "continues to demand unfairly onerous payments" from the US.
The plan, which aligns with Trump's longstanding criticism of the UN health agency, would mark a dramatic shift in US global health policy and further isolate Washington from international efforts to battle pandemics.
Trump has nominated several critics of the organisation to top public health positions, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who is up for the post of secretary of Health and Human Services, which oversees all major US health agencies, including the CDC and FDA.
Leaves Paris climate accord
President Donald Trump on Monday said he will issue executive orders that will declare a national emergency along the border and all illegal entry will be immediately halted, adding that he will start the process of sending back people who came to the US illegally.
Trump also said he will be ordering troops to secure the border.
The President announced a slew of measures that he said would end American decline and mark the beginning of a golden age. They include a new body to collect tariffs levied on foreign products, renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and starting the process to bring back the Panama Canal under U.S. control.
His office also said in a factsheet that the US will be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, which he had done in the first term as well.
“I will declare a National Emergency at our southern border,” Trump said in his inaugural address of executive orders that will be issued by his administration.
“All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came. We will reinstate our Mexico policy. I will end the practice of catch and release, and I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” he said.
President Trump also said he would be announcing new tariffs as he had promised and indicated on the campaign trail.
“I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families. Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens. We are establishing an external revenue service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues. There will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources, the American dream will soon be back and thriving like never before to restore competence and effectiveness to our federal government,” he said.
The President did not specify what tariffs will be levied and on whom.
On foreign policy broadly, he said that as in his first term “we will again build the strongest military the world has ever seen. We will measure our success, not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”
“My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier,” he said.
“That's what I want to be, a peacemaker and a unifier. I'm pleased to say that, as of yesterday, one day before I assumed office, the hostages in the Middle East are coming back home to their families. America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world,” he added.
He added that he would issue an order in a short time to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
He said that the US will take back the Panama Canal. “We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made and Panama's promise to us has been broken. The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty have also been violated. American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form, and that includes the United States Navy. And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn't give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we're taking it back,” the President said.
Trump initiated the year-long withdrawal process from the WHO in 2020 but six months later his successor, President Joe Biden, reversed the decision.
The US President has argued that the agency failed to hold China accountable for the early spread of Covid-19. He has repeatedly called the WHO a puppet of Beijing and vowed to redirect US contributions to domestic health initiatives.
A WHO spokesperson declined to directly comment but referred to the media's comments by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing on December 10 in which he was asked whether he was concerned that the Trump administration would withdraw from the organisation.
Tedros said at the time that the WHO needed to give the US time and space for the transition. He also voiced confidence that states could finalise a pandemic agreement by May 2025.
Critics warn that a US withdrawal could undermine global disease surveillance and emergency response systems.
(Compiled from syndicated feed)
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