Live updates: Trump terminates U.S. relationship with WHO, claiming it misled world about coronavirus
May 29, 2020 / By Miriam Berger, Abigail Hauslohner, Brittany Shammas, Samantha Pell, Michael Brice-Saddler and Colby Itkowitz
During remarks delivered in the Rose Garden on Friday, President Trump leveled an extraordinary broadside at the Chinese government and attacked the World Health Organization.
Trump said WHO was effectively controlled by Beijing and accused it of misleading the world about the coronavirus at the urging of the Chinese government. “We will today be terminating our relationship” with the WHO, the president said, adding that the organization’s more than $400 million annual U.S. contribution would be diverted to other health groups.
Meanwhile, slowing rates of infection in some of the hardest-hit parts of the United States have offered a glimmer of hope. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said Friday that New York City is on track to begin to reopen the week of June 8. New York City is the only region in the state that remain under a complete stay-at-home-order.
Other parts of the nation and the world, however, are bracing for the worst. Globally, the pandemic has shifted to Latin America and the Middle East, as the death toll — now at least 359,000 around the world — continues to rise.
