US set to exit WHO as unpaid fees remain and legal hurdles mount ahead

The U.S. is set to officially exit the World Health Organization on Thursday, one year after President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the withdrawal.

Trump announced on the first day of his new presidency that the U.S. would be leaving the United Nations health agency, but under U.S. law, the country must provide one year's notice and pay all outstanding fees before officially departing.

According to Reuters, the WHO said the U.S. has not yet paid the fees it owes for 2024 and 2025, totaling roughly $260 million. Member states are scheduled to discuss the U.S. departure and how it should be handled during the WHO's executive board meeting in February, the outlet reported.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently urged the U.S. to reconsider its withdrawal, calling it a global loss.

"I hope the U.S. will reconsider and rejoin WHO," he said at a news conference earlier this month. "Withdrawing from the WHO is a lose for the United States, and it's a lose for the rest of the world."

In May, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recorded a video message to the World Health Assembly, outlining why Trump opted to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO.

"Like many legacy institutions, the WHO has become mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest and international power politics," Kennedy said.

Bill Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation, which funds global health initiatives, including some of the WHO's work, said in an interview with Reuters that he does not expect the U.S. to immediately reconsider its decision.

"I don't think the U.S. will be coming back to WHO in the near future," he said.

Trump initially started extricating the U.S. from the organization in 2020, but President Joe Biden reversed course after taking office in 2021.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department and the White House for comment on whether the U.S. plans to leave without paying its outstanding fees and how the move could affect global health efforts.

Reader Comments

ReRan · 2026-01-23T23:44:49Z

Who needs the WHO? Not me.

TBoris · 2026-01-24T00:36:52Z

ReRan Miss leading post about leaving the WHO(IMO). See: [Link]

As OPPR’s first (and so far only) director, Maj. Gen. Paul Friedrich s told Congress the office was meant to build on “the foundation laid by multiple administrations over the past twenty years which have recognized that biological threats are increasing in frequency and impact.”

In its brief existence, OPPR helped secure supply for a new infant RSV immunization, coordinated the federal H5N1 response, forged international partnerships to safeguard pharmaceutical supply chains , assessed government progress on biodefense and, in collaboration with BPR, finalized the Playbook for Biological Incident Response, an interagency guide for rapidly coordinating and operationalizing the U.S. response to biological threats.

In other words, the policy of the WHO is still being carried out in the US even if the US is not officially part of the international organization. It is important to understand that Fort Detrick was the manufacturing location of the covid 19 shots [Link]

"I don't think the U.S. will be coming back to WHO in the near future," [Gates]he said.

Once Trump is out of office, the situation will reverse overtly to joining the WHO. Where as now(under Trump), it is covertly with the Army/Military of the US. The policy for the response though will be the same as if the US was still in the WHO which is the concern I think...

ReRan · 2026-01-24T02:48:36Z

TBoris Makes sense, sadly.

Seven · 2026-01-24T01:48:32Z

The WHO wants to take control of our freedoms during the next plandemic. So, goodbye WHO

Dwoods44 · 2026-01-24T06:48:37Z

From RFK, Jr: " Like many legacy institutions, the WHO has become mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest and international power politics". This is an accurate assessment of the WHO.

The WHO became a tool of the globalists in their genocide of humanity with Gates promoted bioweapon-vaccines and coercing governments to bow down to the WHO experts on "pandemics". The WHO has not fostered medicine or health in the world.

codis · 2026-01-24T08:39:49Z

Trump announced on the first day of his new presidency that the U.S. would be leaving the United Nations health agency, but under U.S. law, the country must provide one year's notice and pay all outstanding fees before officially departing.

Which "US law" ?

And I strongly believe all of this requirements are null and void if criminal behavior of said entity can be proven.

But that aside, with the withdrawal from the WHO and associated organisations, the legal immunity of their organisation members would end, too. Including Fauci's. Which is IMHO what they are actually afraid of ...

Psstoffgoy · 2026-01-24T09:36:59Z

codis

But that aside, with the withdrawal from the WHO and associated organisations, the legal immunity of their organisation members would end, too. Including Fauci's. Which is IMHO what they are actually afraid of ...

I didn't know the WHO offered legal immunity, could get interesting but I have my doubts.