Executive Order 14155 withdraws the United States from the WHO
On January 20, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14155, 'Withdrawing the United States From the World Health Organization,' revoking the January 20, 2021 letter that had retracted the 2020 withdrawal notification. The order pauses transfers of US funds and resources to WHO, directs recall of US personnel working with the organization, and ends US participation in pandemic-agreement negotiations. As its stated rationale, the order cites the WHO's 'mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic,' failure to adopt reforms, and 'inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states' — claims that remain contested. (The order's rationale is the administration's characterization, not a settled finding.)
Primary quotes
“The United States intends to withdraw from the WHO.”
Executive Order 14155, Section 2(a), January 20, 2025
Linked sources
Related contentions
Unresolved. Both the evidentiary record (the tweet, the internal recordings, the joint report's terms of access, and Tedros's caveats) and its interpretation remain contested: whether the WHO's approach was a reasonable accommodation to its limited authority or a failure of independence is a judgment on which governments, scientists, and official reviews have not converged.