UN health agency still wants US cooperation

The head of the World Health Organization said on Monday that he hoped its long-standing cooperation with the United States would continue despite US President Donald Trump's announcement on Friday that he planned to cut ties with the United Nations' global health agency.

In a speech in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said the US had detailed the reforms that the WHO must make and engage with them directly.

"But they have refused to act because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms," he said in a news conference.

"We will be terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs."

In a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on May 19, Trump had warned that he would cut US funding to the WHO permanently and reconsider US membership if the organization did not commit to substantive improvements within 30 days.

On Monday, Tedros said that the world has long benefited from the strong, collaborative engagement with the government and people of the US.

"The US government and people's contribution and generosity toward global health over many decades has been immense, and it has made a great difference in public health all around the world," Tedros said in his opening speech in a virtual news conference. "It is WHO's wish for this collaboration to continue."

Tedros indicated that he also got the information from Trump's news conference and that was the "only communication" from Washington, which appears to have not informed the WHO directly of the decision.

Tedros would not answer a question about the process for a member country withdrawing, saying that "for the moment, what I have said in my speech would be enough".

He told the reporter that if she needs additional information regarding the process, it could be done at another time.

Overreach of powers

Larry Gostin, director of the O'Neil Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, described Trump's announcement as "an overreach of his constitutional powers".

Speaking on National Public Radio on Friday, Gostin said he believes Trump may need congressional approval to terminate US membership of a UN agency.

Kelley Lee, a professor of public health at Simon Fraser University, told NPR: "The only situation where he can do this is if Congress had agreed beforehand to give these powers to the president."

Gostin said that if Trump follows through with his threat, Congress could sue him in federal court, but added that Trump would still have succeeded in halting US funding until the courts decide.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Saturday urged the US to reconsider its announced decision and said global cooperation through multilateral efforts are the only effective avenues to win the battle against COVID-19.