JAMEY KEATEN and MARIA CHENG
Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — Nations and health experts worldwide reacted with alarm Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a halt to the sizable funding the United States sends to the World Health Organization. They warned that the move could jeopardize global efforts to stop the coronavirus pandemic.
At a briefing in Washington, Trump said he was instructing his administration to halt funding for the WHO pending a review of its role "in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus." The United States is WHO's largest single donor, contributing between $400 million and $500 million annually to the Geneva-based agency in recent years.
"I will always put the well-being of America first," Trump said in a statement on Wednes