The United States officially withdrew from the WHO on Thursday. It still owes 330 million yuan.

(London Reuters report) On Thursday (January 22nd), the United States officially withdrew from the World Health Organization. However, it still owes $260 million in fees. Experts say that the Trump administration has clearly violated US laws, but most likely will not bear the consequences. Instead, the WHO will lose the funding from the United States and will have to cut its operations, which will endanger global public health.

On January 20th last year, the first day of his inauguration, US President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization. According to US law, a one-year notification period and full payment of all fees are required before the withdrawal can be carried out.

The World Health Organization previously told Reuters that the United States still owes the fees that should have been paid for 2024 and 2025.

However, the spokesperson of the US State Department sent an email to Reuters on Thursday, claiming that due to the World Health Organization's failure to effectively manage, control and provide information during the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States suffered trillions of dollars in losses. Therefore, Trump ordered to stop transferring any funds, aid or resources to the WHO.

The spokesperson said that the funds provided by Americans to the WHO have exceeded what was needed, and the economic losses caused by the WHO to the United States far outweigh the financial responsibilities of the United States to the WHO.

Lawrence Gostin, the director of the O'Neill Institute for Global Health Law at Georgetown University, said that what the Trump administration has done clearly violates US law, but it is highly likely that it will not have to face any consequences.

The United States is the largest contributor to the World Health Organization (WHO), providing approximately 18% of the funding. Its withdrawal has led to a budget crisis for the WHO. Last year, the WHO already downsized its management team by half and reduced the scale of its projects, and it plans to lay off about 25% of its staff this year.

The Executive Committee of the World Health Organization will hold a meeting in February to discuss how to respond to the US withdrawal. It said that over the past year, it has continued to cooperate with the US and provide information, but is unsure about how the two sides will cooperate in the future. Global public health experts have warned that this will pose risks to both the US and the global public health system.