Promise kept: Trump officially withdrew the US from the WHO over its ties to the Chinese Communist regime

United States, following the directive of President Donald Trump, has formally completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO), according to what the Department of Health and Human Services (in English, HHS) announced on Thursday, thus completing a process that began in 2020 and was halted during Joe Biden's term. 

Thus, Trump had signed a decree on his first day back in the White House in January 2025 in which he announced the intention of the US to withdraw from WHO due to its poor management of the COVID pandemic and other issues related to the institution's financing. 

Almost a year later, HHS announced that the withdrawal from the world organization had concluded and that the North American country -for the first time since 1948, when it served as a founding member of that entity- was no longer part of WHO. 

WHO and China

The main reason for the withdrawal is Trump's dissatisfaction with the agency over its management of the COVID pandemic and its ties with the Chinese communist regime. "WHO delayed declaring a public health emergency of international concern and a pandemic during the early stages of COVID, which cost the world critical weeks while the virus spread", HHS stated in a press release about the official withdrawal.

"During that period, WHO leaders echoed and praised China's response despite evidence that the number of cases had been underestimated, information had been concealed, and confirmation of human-to-human transmission had been delayed", the text from the US department continues. 

A senior official emphasized that the US, under Trump, is "moving away" from organizations that "fail", but that it is not giving up on "being a world leader in health", noting that the State Department signed multi-year bilateral global health cooperation agreements with dozens of countries in December 2025. 

"Although the United States has historically provided most of the organization's funding, other countries, such as China, have exerted undue influence over its operations in ways that benefit their own interests and not necessarily the interests of the international community", the text continues.