U.S. drops out of WHO in line with Trump’s campaign promise

Trump administration officials said in January that they had completed the process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization.

President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise to leave the global health agency, gave the one-year notice of withdrawal on his first day of his second term in office Jan. 20, 2025. The Department of Health and Human Services said that exit is now complete. The U.S. had been a member since 1948.

Trump said he was leaving the WHO because of "mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic." The WHO said it stood by its response to "the unprecedented global health crisis."

The WHO said that as of the end of January, the U.S. owes about $280 million to the agency. WHO members pay annual dues calculated by the United Nations based mainly on the country's gross domestic product.

Medical groups and experts criticized the Trump administration's action.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America said the move will jeopardize virus surveillance for the U.S., including the global platform to monitor flu cases and share data used to develop early vaccines.

"Whether facing emerging threats like Ebola or the persistent burden of annual flu outbreaks, international tracking is essential," the group's president Dr. Ronald G. Nahass said in a Jan. 22 statement. 

Dr. Tom Frieden, a former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the Obama administration, said on Threads that walking away from the WHO gives the U.S. less say about responding to outbreaks.

"History shows what cooperation can achieve," Frieden said. Through WHO, the world eradicated smallpox and reduced millions of preventable deaths. Those successes protected Americans too."

Trump campaigned on a promise to withdraw from the WHO. We rate this Promise Kept.