The UN body has received a formal request from Washington to withdraw next year as Trump orders a pause on WHO funding.
The United States is set to officially withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) in January 2026 after the UN body received a formal letter from US President Donald Trump this week.
UN deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Thursday that the withdrawal was now set in motion after Trump pledged on Monday – his first day in office – to withdraw the US from the WHO and to put an end to future funding of the organisation.
“I can confirm we have now received the US letter on the WHO withdrawal. It is dated 22 January 2025. It would take effect a year from yesterday, on 22 January 2026,” Haq said.
Trump also ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the director of the US government’s Office of Management and Budget to “pause the future transfer of any United States Government funds, supports, or resources to the WHO”.
Washington has recalled all US government personnel working with the WHO and ordered them to cease participating in negotiations on a WHO-led global treaty on dealing with pandemics.
With the departure of the US, the WHO will lose its most important financial backer.
The US contributes about 18 percent of the organisation’s funding, which amounted to about $261m between 2024 and 2025. That contribution is followed in second place by China at $181m. The WHO’s loss of its top donor will impact the global health agency’s ability to address major crises from tuberculosis to HIV/AIDS and global pandemics, according to experts.
Trump had accused the WHO of mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic during his first term in office and had sent a request to withdraw from the organisation in July 2020.
That withdrawal attempt was thwarted when Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, who immediately withdrew the order once in office.
Many health experts have accused Trump and his administration of botching the US’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
On Tuesday, the WHO issued a statement saying it regretted the announced departure of the US and pointed out that its work “plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans”.
“We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and wellbeing of millions of people around the globe,” the WHO said.
The US joined the WHO in 1948 through joint resolutions from both Congressional houses, which leaves a question mark over whether Trump can unilaterally pull US membership without congressional approval, according to Jean Galbraith, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Trump’s Republican party controls both the US Senate and House of Representatives, but the withdrawal could still be challenged in court, legal experts said. “Trump made a unilateral decision to pull out of WHO. But we joined WHO in 1948 by an act of Congress. Trump needs Congress’ approval to withdraw,” Lawrence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, wrote on social media.
“His decision is too catastrophic to be made without Congress and the courts. As director of a WHO Center, I am considering a lawsuit,” Gostin said.
Trump made a unilateral decision to pull out of WHO. But we joined WHO in 1948 by an act of Congress. Trump needs Congress’ approval to withdraw. His decision is too catastrophic to be made without Congress and the courts. As director of a WHO Center, I am considering a lawsuit.
— Lawrence Gostin (@LawrenceGostin) January 21, 2025
