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.

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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.

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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.

Reuters contributed to this report.