'A big one': Trump signs executive order to withdraw from WHO for second time

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to begin the process of withdrawing America from the World Health Organisation (WHO) for the second time. The order was among dozens of executive actions he signed on issues ranging from immigration to foreign policy to climate change after being sworn in for a second term on Monday.
The WHO faced intense criticism from Trump in 2020 for its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which escalated into a worldwide health crisis during his first term's final year.
"That's a big one," Trump told reporters in the White House Oval Office when an aid presented him with the executive order to sign.
"We paid USD 500 million to World Health when I was here, and I terminated it. China, with 1.4 billion people, has 350 dependents... nobody knows what we have because so many people came in illegally. But let's say we have 325 (million people). They (China) had 1.4 billion people. They were paying USD39 million. We were paying USD500 million. It seemed a little unfair to me," he said.

"That wasn't the reason, but I dropped out (of WHO). They offered me to come back for USD39 million. In theory, it should be less than that, but, when Biden came back, they came back for USD500 million. He knew that you could have come back for USD39 million. They wanted us back so badly. So, we'll see what happens," he said.

The order stated that Trump was sending a presidential letter to the United Nations secretary-general to formally notify him of the US plan to withdraw.
"The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organisation (WHO) 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," said the executive order.
"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 per cent of the population of the United States, yet contributes nearly 90 per cent less to the WHO," it said, adding that the United States intends to withdraw from the WHO.

The global health body stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in funding following Trump's order.
This marks Trump's second attempt to withdraw the US from the WHO. In July 2020, he sent a letter to WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus notifying him of the US intention to withdraw within a year, accusing the WHO of helping China mislead the world about the spread of Covid-19. However, after Trump's defeat in the 2020 election, President Joe Biden reversed the decision upon taking office in January 2021.
The Executive Order also calls for establishing directorates and coordinating mechanisms within the National Security Council apparatus as Trump deems necessary and appropriate to safeguard public health and fortify biosecurity.