Donald Trump followed through on Tuesday April 14. After regularly criticizing the World Health Organization (WHO) for handling the global coronavirus crisis, the President announced in retaliation in the White House rose garden that the funding would be frozen.
The Trump administration is under fire for criticism for its management of pandemic preparedness. The United States recorded a dismal record on Tuesday with more than 2,200 additional deaths from the virus in twenty-four hours, the heaviest daily record recorded by a country, according to the count of the Johns-Hopkins University. This brings the American death toll to 25,757 dead in total. The United States has become the country with the most deaths from the Covid-19 epidemic, ahead of Italy, Spain and France and the country with the highest number of diagnosed cases – more than 600,000 contaminations.
The United States is the largest contributor to WHO, both in terms of its quota and additional payments for specific projects. This contribution represented 17% of the organization’s budget in 2017.
The freeze, assured Donald Trump, will remain in effect until the conclusion of"A study to examine the role of WHO in the mismanagement and concealment of the spread of the coronavirus". "If WHO had done its job and sent medical experts to China to objectively study the situation on the ground, the epidemic could have been contained at its source with very few deaths", the president said, questioning the organization’s management's complacency vis-à-vis the Chinese authorities. However, he refused to demand the resignation of the director general of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, demanded in the United States by certain Republican elected officials.
Change of tone
The President of the United States adopted a completely different tone on January 24 on his Twitter account. “China has worked very hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates its efforts and its transparency. Everything will work well ”, he had assured. "On behalf of the American people, I want to thank President Xi (Jinping)! ", He added.
After the spread of the epidemic in the United States, Donald Trump then adopted a more aggressive speech towards Beijing, systematically evoking from March 21 a "Chinese virus" while his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, opted for the "Wuhan virus", the region of origin of the pandemic. The president gave up on this formula after a telephone exchange with his Chinese counterpart, and after having noted the development in his country of xenophobic acts targeting the Asian community.
You have 48.59% of this article to read. The suite is reserved for subscribers.
