WASHINGTON — The Trump administration said Wednesday it won't pay more than $60 million in dues it owes to the World Health Organization and will use the money instead to pay down other contributions to the United Nations. The announcement came just a day after the White House announced the U.S. would not participate in a WHO-run project to develop and distribute a COVID-19 vaccine. Those programs include polio eradication projects in Afghanistan and Pakistan, humanitarian relief in Libya and Syria and efforts to combat influenza. The funding decisions follow Trump's announcement in July that he was withdrawing the U.S. from the WHO effective July 2021 and instructing his administration to wind down funding and cooperation with the agency. At the time of the announcement, the U.S. had already paid about $52 million of its assessed 2020 dues of $120 million.

Source: International New York Times September 02, 2020 20:26 UTC