The United States withdrew from the World Health Organization

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization.

The executive order issued by the White House said the US Secretary of state should immediately notify the UN Secretary general and the leadership of the World Health Organization of the US decision, Xinhua reported. The Executive Order also requires that appropriate steps be taken as soon as possible to suspend any funding, support, and resources from the United States government to WHO.

Reuters quoted Trump as saying on Monday that the global health body had mishandled the coronavirus outbreak and other international health crises.

In signing the executive order, Trump said, "The World Health Organization has lied to us, and everyone has lied to the United States. It won't happen again."

His move means the United States will withdraw from the U.N. health agency in 12 months and cease all financial contributions to the world health organization. The United States is by far the WHO's largest financial backer, contributing about 18 percent of its total funding. Who's budget for the most recent two years (2024-2025) is $6.8 billion.

Trump's withdrawal from the WHO was not a surprise. He notified the United Nations on July 6, 2020, during his first term as president, that the United States would withdraw from the WHO. On January 20, 2021, the Biden administration announced on its first day in office that the United States would end its withdrawal from the World Health Organization.

Trump accused the WHO of helping China "mislead the world" about the origin of the coronavirus. The WHO has strongly denied the accusation and said it will continue to press Beijing to share data to determine whether the coronavirus originated from human contact with infected animals or from domestic laboratory research on similar viruses.