President Donald Trump ended the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday, amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
“Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent, global public health needs,” he said. “The world needs answers from China on the virus. We must have transparency.”
He also questioned why travel was stopped from Wuhan to Beijing, while “they allowed them to freely travel throughout the world, including Europe and the United States,” and claimed that the U.S. pays the WHO roughly $400 million more a year than China does.
Trump then noted the tragedy and economic devastation the coronavirus has had both on the nation and the world, adding that the United States’ technological and scientific advances must be protected.
His decision comes just days after the United States reached a death toll of over 100,000 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump had already announced last month that he would halt U.S. funding to WHO until their “covering up” of the coronavirus outbreak and their mismanaged response was investigated.
Watch above, via MSNBC.
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