London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 23, 2025

Donald Trump threatens to cut off WHO funding over agency’s handling of outbreak

Donald Trump threatens to cut off WHO funding over agency’s handling of outbreak

US president says World Health Organisation knew about the dangers of the coronavirus months before it took any action. The United States is the largest contributor to the 194-member UN body

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to withhold US funding from the World Health Organisation, saying the United Nations body “missed the call” and implying it knew about the dangers of the coronavirus months before taking any action.

“We're going to put a hold on money sent to the WHO,” Trump said at the daily White House press briefing. “We're going to put a very powerful hold on it and we're going to see.”

“They could have called it months earlier,” he added. “They would have known, and they should have known, and they probably did know, so we'll be looking into that very carefully.”

Asked later in the briefing whether it was wise to cut the global health agency’s funding during a pandemic, Trump denied that a decision had been made.

“I’m not saying I’m going to do it, but we’re going to look at it,” Trump said. “We’re going to investigate it, we’re going to look at it, but we will look at ending funding.”



The WHO first noted “a pneumonia of unknown cause” in Wuhan in late December. It declared a global health emergency on January 30 and, on March 11, deemed the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

Trump had castigated the WHO on Twitter earlier in the day and issued a veiled threat against the 194-member agency, for whom the United States is the largest contributor.

“The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China-centric. We will be giving that a good look,” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“Fortunately,” Trump wrote, “I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?”

This was not the first time Trump took issue with the agency’s funding. The White House’s proposed budget for 2021 cuts the US contribution to the organisation significantly, from US$122 million to under US$58 million, though the final decision belongs to Congress.

The WHO has emerged as a popular target of criticism on the right, with conservatives claiming it had relied heavily on potentially suspect data from China in formulating its guidance around the disease.

As late as January 31, WHO representatives were advising countries to keep their borders open even as the virus spread. That same day the Trump administration announced restrictions on some travellers from China.

At that time, the WHO was providing guidance that “travel bans to affected areas or denial of entry to passengers coming from affected areas are usually not effective in preventing the importation” and could “have a significant economic and social impact”.



The agency warned that strictly limiting movement during a pandemic could “interrupt needed aid and technical support” and “disrupt businesses”, although it did allow that if restrictions were “short in duration” they may “may have a public health rationale at the beginning of the containment phase of an outbreak”.

Trump’s ban went far beyond WHO advice, but was also poorly enforced.

The New York Times has found that at least 430,000 people arrived in the United States on direct flights from China even after Trump announced his travel restrictions, and that screening protocols of travellers from China were spotty.

There is also evidence that the White House’s fraught relationship with the WHO exacerbated the United States’ failure to roll out widespread effective testing for the virus.

While the UN was vital in shoring up testing in many countries, the United States refused to use the international body’s testing kits, subsequently scrambling to develop its own. Testing shortages continue to hobble the US’ response to the virus.



The chorus of WHO criticism from the US right wing has recently swelled.

On Monday, Senator Rick Scott, Republican of Florida, said Fox News that the “WHO should be held accountable for helping Communist China lie about the coronavirus.”

Last week, Senator Marco Rubio, also a Florida Republican, put out a statement condemning the “WHO’s current leadership, who have regularly demonstrated their servility to the Chinese Communist Party”.

Rubio called for the resignation of WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, saying that he is “either complicit or dangerously incompetent. Neither possibility bodes well for his future at the helm of this critical organization.”

The agency came under fire recently when a video emerged of a WHO adviser first pretending not to hear the question, then cutting an interview short when asked about Taiwan.

“When people’s lives were at stake, Taiwan acted to protect them,” said Rubio. “That is exactly what the WHO should be doing; instead, it has undermined global health by carrying water for Beijing.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
×