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Law360 (May 29, 2020, 8:27 PM EDT) -- President Donald Trump said Friday he is terminating the United States' relationship with the World Health Organization over its failure to enact reforms after fumbling the COVID-19 health crisis and announced a series of aggressive actions against China.
The president announced the moves during a roughly 10-minute news conference in the White House Rose Garden, where he made unsubstantiated accusations that China has "total control" over the WHO and pressured it to "mislead the world when the virus was first discovered by Chinese authorities."
The president also attacked China for its recent crackdown in Hong Kong and espionage against the U.S. while announcing a series of punitive and retaliatory measures likely to increase tensions between the U.S. and China.
"China has total control over the World Health Organization, despite only paying $40 million dollars per year compared to what the United States has been paying, which is $450 million per year," the president said.
He added that because the WHO "failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will today be terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs. The world needs answers from China on the virus. We must have transparency."
Trump said China has "ripped off the United States like no one has ever done before" and accused the country of committing "espionage to steal our industrial secrets, of which there are many." He also said the country is "unlawfully claiming territory in the Pacific Ocean" and criticized it for recently enacting a national security law for Hong Kong that undermines the territory's autonomy.
As Trump spoke, he was flanked by a handful of top advisers, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. He did not take any questions.
Trump said the U.S. will be barring certain foreign nationals deemed a security risk from entering the U.S. He also said Hong Kong "is no longer sufficiently autonomous to warrant the special treatment that we have afforded the territory" and would "begin the process of eliminating policy exemptions that give Hong Kong different and special treatment."
Trump also threatened sanctions against those responsible for China's crackdown on Hong Kong.
Trump's comments come after several months of increased criticism of China and the WHO over the COVID-19 crisis. In April, he said he was halting WHO funding while his administration conducted a review of the organization.
At the time, he blamed the WHO for allegedly failing to investigate the early Chinese response to COVID-19, claiming the organization could have stopped the virus from leaving the city where it first emerged, and repeated that sentiment Friday.
Neither WHO nor the Chinese embassy immediately responded to a request for comment.
--Additional reporting by Andrew Kragie. Editing by Michael Watanabe.
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