Donald Trump followed through on Tuesday April 14. After having regularly criticized the World Health Organization (WHO) for its management of the world crisis caused by the coronavirus, he announced in the rose garden of the White House the freezing of the American contribution in reprisals.
The freeze, he said, 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 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 “, He said.
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 their efforts and their transparency. Everything will work well “, He had assured. ” On behalf of the American people, I want to thank President Xi [Jinping] ! “, He added.
“Huge amounts of money”
The head of state had already announced the freeze a week earlier, before quickly returning to his remarks. ” The World Health Organization receives huge sums of money from the United States. And we pay the majority, most of their money. And they actually criticized my travel ban [pour les étrangers en provenance de la Chine] the moment I did it. And they were wrong. They were wrong on many things. And they had a lot of information early and they didn’t want – they are very – they seem to be very focused on China. And we have to look at that. So let’s take a look He said on April 7.
By sanctioning the WHO in this way, Donald Trump is playing on the Republican Party’s traditional criticisms of the multilateral organizations he shares. His budget plans, routinely ignored by Congress, have regularly slashed the annual contribution to the World Health Organization.
Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, an American think tank specializing in international relations, commented on the American decision. ” WHO is a defective agency “, He estimated on his Twitter account, “ only because the great powers, including the United States, allow this to happen. “ and ” failures do not explain our own poor performance In the fight against the Covid-19.
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