President Trump announced at the White House coronavirus news briefing in the Rose Garden on Tuesday that the United States will immediately halt all funding for the World Health Organization (WHO), saying it had put "political correctness over lifesaving measures."
Also at the briefing, the president said plans to ease the national economic shutdown were being finalized, and that he would be "authorizing governors to reopen their states to reopen as they see fit." At the same time, Trump made clear that he was not going to put "any pressure" on governors to reopen.
US President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 14, 2020, in Washington, DC
Trump read a long list of names of people in business, health care and sports who will advise him on how to restart the economy. "We have to get our sports back," Trump remarked. "I'm tired of watching baseball games that are 14 years old."
A man waits for a train in a subway station during the coronavirus outbreak on April 13 in New York City
In the meantime, Trump declared that the United States would undertake a 60-to-90 day investigation into why the "China-centric" WHO had caused "so much death" by "severely mismanaging and covering up" the coronavirus' spread, including by making the "disastrous" decision to oppose travel restrictions on China.
World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said getting the COVID-19 virus under control first was necessary to revive economic activity The United States is the WHO's largest single donor, and the State Department had previously planned to provide the agency $893 million in the current two-year funding period. Trump said the United States contributes roughly $400 to $500 million per year to WHO, while China offers only about $40 million. The money saved will go to areas that "most need it," Trump asserted.
Medical personnel transport a body from a refrigerated container at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, April 8, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York
President Trump announced at the White House coronavirus news briefing in the Rose Garden on Tuesday that the United States will immediately halt all funding for the World Health Organization (WHO), saying it had put "political correctness over lifesaving measures."
US President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 14, 2020, in Washington, DC
A man waits for a train in a subway station during the coronavirus outbreak on April 13 in New York City
Medical personnel transport a body from a refrigerated container at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, April 8, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York
