US President Donald Trump has decided to end his country’s relationship with the WHO. This follows a threat earlier in May to cut US funding to the World Health Organisation. President Trump has been speaking against all forms of multilateralism consistently for some time now. His allegation is that these institutions are all weighing in against the US and there is nothing in it for America. He first questioned his country’s support the United Nations and followed this up with an even more surprising threat to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, a group whose members are all very old and consistent US allies. Trump’s skepticism on climate change is more than established and he has withdrawn the US from the Paris accords. Finally, upset with large trade deficits that the US has built, Trump has been very critical of the World Trade Organisation too.
This tirade has been the hallmark of President Trump’s foreign policy, and many saw it coming when matters came to a head with the US withdrawing from the WHO. The number of infected people in the US is now touching two million and more than a hundred thousand have died. Ignoring the deathly potential of this new mutant of corona has indeed been a huge mistake on part of President Trump. He was forced to therefore get aggressive on some third party. China proved to be tough target, not backing down on its stance at all and daring the US to make changes in the trade deal. The WHO was easier, it is stretched to its limits and is being criticised by many for having delayed the declaration of the pandemic.