EU Condemns Trump’s Move To Exit WHO As COVID-19 Grips Latin America

US President Donald Trump faced a broad backlash on Saturday over severing ties with the UN’s health agency during a pandemic, as the coronavirus surged in Latin America while Europe further reopened from lockdown.

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The EU called on Washington to reconsider its decision to permanently cut funding to the World Health Organization over its handling of the pandemic, which has devastated the global economy, infected nearly six million people and killed more than 364,000.

“Now is the time for enhanced cooperation and common solutions,” the European Union said in a statement, adding: “Actions that weaken international results must be avoided.”

Trump initially suspended funding to the WHO last month, accusing it of not doing enough to curb the early spread of the virus and being too lenient with China, where COVID-19 emerged late last year.

On Friday he made that decision permanent in a major blow for the agency’s finances, as the US is by far its biggest contributor, supplying $400 million last year.

Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said the “disappointing” decision was a setback for global health, while Chancellor Angela Merkel declined to attend an in-person G7 summit that Trump had suggested he would host.

Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet medical journal, said it was “madness and terrifying both at the same time”.

“The US government has gone rogue at a time of humanitarian emergency.”

Lawrence Gostin, a professor of public health law at Georgetown University and WHO collaborator, questioned Trump’s ability to withdraw from the agency without the approval of US Congress, saying the threat was “unlawful, reckless and dangerous”