The headquarters of the World Health Organization in Geneva on Monday.Credit…Denis Balibouse/Reuters
President Trump threatened to permanently cut off all funds to the World Health Organization Monday night, a dramatic escalation of his repeated attempts to deflect blame for his handling of the pandemic that has killed more than 90,000 people in the United States during the past several months.
In a late-night, four-page letter to the director general of the W.H.O., Mr. Trump accused the global health group of failing to act quickly and aggressively enough against the virus in its early days, in effect denouncing the organization for the very missteps and failures that have been leveled at him and his administration.
Public health experts have said the president’s public denials of the virus’s dangers slowed the American response, which included delayed testing and a failure to stockpile protective gear.
In the letter, the president said that the W.H.O. “belatedly declared the outbreak of a Public Health Emergency of International concern on January 30,” more than a month after the virus was first detected. But Mr. Trump did not declare a national emergency until weeks later, despite being aware of the virus and its dangers.
The president has railed against the W.H.O. for weeks as his own political and public health crisis at home has intensified, saying the group is in the thrall of China, where the virus originated. In the letter, he said the group was responsible for many deaths because they failed to challenge the version of events from Xi Jinping, the president of China, regarding the origin of the virus and its initial spread.
“On January 28, after meeting with President Xi in Beijing, you praised the Chinese government for its ‘transparency’ with respect to the coronavirus, announcing that China had set ‘a new standard for outbreak control’ and ‘bought the world time,’” Mr. Trump wrote in hs letter, accusing the W.H.O. of failing to criticize China for cracking down on its own scientists and doctors.
But that criticism from Mr. Trump was particularly ironic given his own very similar comments about China early in the pandemic. On Jan. 24, just four days before the W.H.O. comments, Mr. Trump tweeted his own praise of the Chinese leader.
“China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus,” wrote Mr. Trump, who was at the time trying to complete negotiations on a trade deal with China. “The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”
Mr. Trump’s letter Monday night came after the first day of a W.H.O. meeting that was intended to chart a course forward in the pandemic fight. The forum, which Mr. Trump declined to address, will conclude today.
Mr. Trump also wrote on Monday that the United States would reconsider its membership in the W.H.O. because it was “so clearly not serving America’s interests.”
“It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world,” the president wrote in the letter outlining his grievances against the organization and its leader, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Last year, the United States contributed about $553 million of the W.H.O.’s $6 billion budget, with China providing $43 million. Before Mr. Trump posted his letter, President Xi offered to provide $2 billion in the fight against the pandemic and called on other nations to increase their contributions to the W.H.O.
Mr. Trump, who halted the U.S. contribution to the W.H.O. last month, is driven by a deep skepticism of international organizations, fueled by a belief — not supported by facts — that the United States is being ripped off by other countries seeking to prosper at America’s expense.
The threat to cut off assistance to the W.H.O. is also an example of the president’s America First view of foreign aid, in which Mr. Trump has repeatedly made it clear that he favors pulling back from international obligations that he derisively calls part of a globalist agenda that is harmful to American interests.
But by freezing support for the group in the middle of a global health emergency, the president risks abdicating the United States’ usual role as a global health leader. The announcement of a $2 billion contribution by President Xi on Monday underscored the potential consequence of Mr. Trump’s decision.
The New York Times
