Donald Trump Teases Possible Backtrack on Policy He Just Enacted

President Donald Trump announced that he would consider rejoining the World Health Organization (WHO) if someone were to “clean it up a little” and the U.S. were to contribute significantly less money to the agency.

Newsweek reached out to the WHO and White House for comment by email on Saturday evening.

Why It Matters

Trump signed a raft of executive orders during his first week back in office, including a declaration to exit the WHO, which he criticized for “mishandling” the COVID-19 pandemic and “unfairly” asking for what he deemed to be an excessive amount of money from the U.S.

Speaking to the Vegas crowd on Saturday, he told the Vegas crowd that the U.S. contributed $500 million to the WHO while China only contributes $39 million. He argued that the sums didn’t make sense considering the U.S. has a much smaller population than China – 339 million people compared to 1.4 billion people, respectively.

NPR, examining the amount each country contributed, determined that the U.S. paid closer to $706 million (into two pools in which the U.S. contributed $264 million and $442 million for 2024-2025) compared to China’s $184 million (into two pools in which China contributed $181 million and $2.4 million).

What To Know

Trump made the surprise comment at his Las Vegas rally, which capped a frantic week that included visits on Friday to both the North Carolina and Los Angeles disaster areas, where hurricane and wildfire damage remained fresh.

The rally was mainly intended as a “Thank You” to voters after he upset expectations and won Nevada in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The state had voted for Barack Obama twice, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden in the previous elections.

Seemingly unprompted, Trump revealed that he would consider a return to the WHO, but that he would need to do so at a lower amount – mentioning $39 million, which he believes is the amount China pays – and if “they … clean it up.”

“They offered me at $39 million, they said ‘We’ll let you back in for $39 million,’ they’re going to reduce it from [$500 million] to [$39 million], and I turned them down, because it became so popular I didn’t know if it would be well received even at [$39 million],” Trump said.

“But maybe we would consider doing it again, I don’t know, maybe we would. They’d have to clean it up a bit,” Trump said.

What People Are Saying

The World Health Organization (WHO) this week in a statement said: “The World Health Organization regrets the announcement that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the Organization. WHO plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans, by addressing the root causes of disease, building stronger health systems, and detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often in dangerous places where others cannot go.”

Adding, later in the statement: “We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well-being of millions of people around the globe.”

Former MI6 chief Sir John Sawers told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour this week: “What happens when the United States withdraws from these agencies [like the World Health Organization] is it actually hands a gift to China. It just makes it much easier for China to assert itself.”

What Happens Next

Trump has already withdrawn the U.S. from the WHO, but these comments repeat the pattern that Trump’s allies have insisted upon that most threats, particularly monetary ones, are done for the sake of negotiations.

As such, the WHO could respond to Trump and ask what standards would satisfy the president to bring the U.S. back into the fold.