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Trump halts US payments to WHO, citing reliance on China
It’s unclear when any halt in payments would take effect or how much authority Trump has to suspend disbursements, which are authorized by Congress.
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World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus adjusts his glasses as he speaks during a daily press briefing on COVID-19 virus at the WHO headquaters in Geneva on March 9, 2020. - The World Health Organization said on March 9, 2020 that more than 70 percent of those infected with the new coronavirus in China have recovered, adding that the country was (AFP/Fabrice Coffrini)
P
resident Donald Trump said he instructed his administration to temporarily halt funding to the World Health Organization for taking China’s claims about the coronavirus “at face value” and failing to share information about the pandemic as it spread.
“The WHO failed in its basic duty and must be held accountable,” Trump said Tuesday at a White House press conference. “The outbreak could have been contained at its source” if the organization had correctly responded early on, he added.
It’s unclear when any halt in payments would take effect or how much authority Trump has to suspend disbursements, which are authorized by Congress. The US has contributed $893 million to the WHO’s operations during its current two-year funding cycle, according to the organization. Administration officials signaled the suspension would be for 60 days.
In a statement Tuesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the chance to investigate how the disease spread around the world would come later.
“As it is not that time, it also not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian organization in the fight against the virus,” he said. “As I have said before, now is the time for unity and for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences.”
The move to limit support to the WHO in the midst of a global pandemic is unprecedented. Yet as domestic criticism of the Trump administration’s response has increased and the US became the epicenter of the outbreak, many of the president’s supporters have pointed to the WHO for making early mistakes they say undermined the US and worsened the crisis.
The WHO has been a conduit for tension between the US and China for months, with WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus being singled out for blame by allies of the president for being too deferential to Beijing. Representatives for the WHO didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft Corp., warned in a tweet that cutting off funds for the WHO “is as dangerous as it sounds.”
Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds. Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs @WHO now more than ever.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) April 15, 2020
The US contributes nearly a quarter of all member state dues for the WHO. That pool of funds — although a small proportion of the overall budget — are used as the organization’s operating budget to run daily operations, said Adam Kamradt-Scott, an associate professor of international security at the University of Sydney who has written about the politics of pandemic preparedness. The rest of the funding, called voluntary contributions, come from member states and non-profits and are tailored to specific global health programs.
He warned that Trump could “bankrupt the organization” if the US pulls both member dues and voluntary contributions, adding that the move would undo decades of working leading the world in fighting diseases. The move could impact global health more broadly beyond the WHO, he added.
“We now have a situation in which the US is vacating a leadership role in the middle of the crisis,” Kamradt-Scott said. “Nature abhors a vacuum. Politics abhors a vacuum even more.”
