President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization, as part of a spate of directives made during his first night in the Oval Office.
It was the second time Trump has made such an order. His first attempt at withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO, in 2020, was rescinded by Joe Biden when he took office in 2021.
Trump has sparred with the WHO since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, when he accused the organization of not being transparent when it came to its investigation into the origins of the pandemic in China. He also disagreed with the agency over the use of travel restrictions to control the spread of the virus. Trump temporarily suspended funding to the WHO as a result of these concerns.