Trump pulls US out of WHO, Climate pact, takes other controversial decisions

Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States, signed several executive orders hours after his inauguration on Monday, including one that withdraws the US from the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Some of these orders will severely hamper global efforts and have drawn criticism from leaders, experts, and stakeholders worldwide.

Justifying the withdrawal from the WHO, Mr Trump cited what he called the inappropriate political influence of member states on the global body that is about 20 per cent funded by the US.

“Oooh, that’s a big one,” he said as he signed the document.

This is President Trump’s second attempt to pull the US out of the United Nations health agency, which focuses on coordinating international responses to health emergencies across the world

Mr Trump criticised the Geneva-based institution for how it handled COVID-19 and, in 2022, began the process of pulling the US out of it.

His successor, Joe Biden, later reversed that decision.

In his executive order on Monday, hours after he was sworn in for a second term, Mr Trump again cited how the WHO handled the COVID-19 as a reason for his decision.

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“The organisation’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states is the reason for US withdrawal,” the executive order states.

Paris climate agreement

Mr Trump has, for the second time, directed the US to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

He signed the executive order to withdraw the country from the 2015 agreement on Monday.

According to him, the Paris accord is among several international agreements that do not reflect US values.

The agreement only “steers American taxpayer dollars to countries that do not require, or merit, financial assistance in the interests of the American people.”

Instead of joining a global agreement, “the United States’ successful track record of advancing both economic and environmental objectives should be a model for other countries,’’ Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump, in 2017, issued a similar directive and announced that the US would abandon the global Paris accord, a pact is aimed at limiting long-term global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels or, keeping temperatures at least well below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels. Mr Biden reversed that earlier decision.

Migration policies

The new US president also issued a directive to declare a national emergency on the US southern border while also signing an order that suspends the country’s refugee resettlement programme for four months,

He also signed an order against automatic citizenship for US-born children of immigrants who entered the country illegally.

As part of his migration policy, Mr Trump also shut down a major immigration pipeline which was initiated under Biden’s administration.

It is a sponsorship initiative that allowed up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to fly to the US.

According to the Biden administration, the policy, known as CHNV, was initiated and designed to lower illegal border crossings.

Mr Trump, who earlier vowed to initiate the largest deportation programme, has also issued an executive order stopping the “catch and release” policy.

The US policy allowed migrants to live in US communities while they waited for their hearings.

The new president also plans to end a long-time policy that stopped federal immigration authorities from conducting raids on churches and schools.

Foreign assistance

Similarly, President Trump has also signed an executive order to stop all US foreign assistance programmes for 90 days.

These programmes will be on hold pending reviews to determine if they are aligned with his policy goals or not.

He has also directed that no United States foreign assistance should be disbursed in a manner that does not align with the country’s foreign policy.

“Foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values,” the executive order reads. “It serves to destabilise world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.

“No further United States foreign assistance shall be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.”

Gender

President Trump also signed an executive order declaring that the US will only recognise the male and female genders.

These genders, he said, are not changeable and are grounded “in fundamental and incontrovertible reality.”

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He had earlier noted during his inaugural speech that his administration would recognise only the male and female genders.

“As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,” he had said.

The move, seen as an attack on the LGBTQ community, is expected to draw widespread criticism from rights groups globally.

In the same executive order, Mr Trump ended all government programmes, policies, statements and communications that promote or support gender ideology. In a separate one, he ended the US diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes.

This executive order is called “ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing.”