In a flurry of activities, as he promised, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday stating the commencement of pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The President also withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Accord, reversing one of the most significant deal brokered by former President Biden.
The U.S. has historically been the largest funder of the global health agency headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, but Trump accuses the body of mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, towards the end of his first term in office, Trump had first kick-started the process of withdrawing from the WHO but the succeeding Biden administration did not continue with the move. has confirmed that he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate deal.
Also, the new President will pull the US, the world’s second-largest climate polluter, out of the most important global treaty for tackling climate change for the second time.
The White House announced the move to withdraw from the Paris Agreement shortly after Mr Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
The decision would place the United States alongside Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries in the world outside the landmark global 2015 pact to limit global warming.
The statement said the announcement is part of Trump’s broader agenda to boost U.S. oil and gas production.
Trump also withdrew the U.S. from the Paris deal during his first term in office, although the process took years and was immediately reversed by Joe Biden in 2021.
America’s second withdrawal is likely to take less time, perhaps as little as a year, because Trump will not be bound by the deal’s initial three-year commitment.
In the original 2015 pact governments agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
The United States is the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas thanks to a years-long drilling boom, including in Texas and New Mexico, fueled by fracking technology.
It has also been boosted by strong global prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. is currently the world’s second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter behind China and its departure undermines global ambition to slash those emissions.
The world is now on pace for global warming of more than 3C by the end of the century, according to a recent United Nations report.
That is a level scientists warn would trigger cascading impacts like sea level rise, heat waves, and devastating storms.
Nations have already been struggling to make steep cuts to emissions required to lower the projected temperature increase, as wars, political tensions and tight government budgets push climate change down the list of priorities.
As news of America’s second withdrawal broke, Paul Watkinson, a former climate negotiator and senior policy advisor for France, said: ‘It will be harder this time because we are in the thick of implementation, up against real choices.’
Trump’s approach is a stark contrast to that of former President Joe Biden, who wanted the United States to lead global climate efforts.
He sought to encourage a transition away from oil and gas using a combination of subsidies and regulations.
Trump has said he intends to unwind those subsidies and regulations to grow the economy.
He has insisted he can do that while also ensuring clean air and water in the United States.
Trump also said his administration would declare a ‘national energy emergency’ to significantly expand drilling.
It will scrap upcoming stringent pollution standards for cars and trucks, which he has derided as an ‘electric vehicle mandate.’
‘President Trump will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord,’ the White House said in a statement.
Trump used his inauguration speech to preview a raft of sweeping energy-related federal orders aimed at undoing Biden’s climate legacy.
He said: ‘The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices, and that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill!
‘We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it. With my actions today, we will end the Green New Deal, and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry.’
Trump’s domestic actions were welcomed by energy industry leaders, who view the administration’s policies as a return to the era of American energy dominance.
‘The US oil and natural gas industry stands ready to work with the new administration to deliver the commonsense energy solutions Americans voted for,” said Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute.
Already, Trump’s order for the U.S. to exit the WHO is already being greeted with criticisms.
In a statement, Access to Medicines Director for Public Citizen, says the action means Trump is harming Americans as well as the rest of the world.
The statement says, “In withdrawing from the WHO, Trump is harming not just the rest of the world but every American. Pulling out of the organization best able to mobilize countries to do their part fighting deadly viruses that kill Americans and don’t care about borders is not putting America first. It’s putting Americans at risk.
“As terrible as COVID was, it could have been much worse. U.S. cooperation with WHO and its partners to identify threats and deploy countermeasures saved millions of lives, including American lives. Many more American lives could have been saved through faster action to fight COVID variants everywhere.
“Global health cooperation will only become more important in the years to come, as new diseases arise and spread thanks to the impact of worsening climate change.
“This still is one world, like it or not, and viruses don’t discriminate.”
