Ooh, that’s a big one,” Donald Trump said Monday as he signed an executive order – one of dozens during his first hours as president – to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization.

The U.S. has traditionally been the most generous benefactor of the WHO. A Trump executive order to cut ties with the WHO could pose a threat to global public health.

Public health experts say U.S. withdrawal from the W.H.O. would undermine the nation’s standing as a global health leader and make it harder to fight the next pandemic.

President Donald Trump announced Monday he is withdrawing the US from the World Health Organization, a significant move on his first day back in the White House cutting ties with the United Nations’ public health agency and drawing criticism from public health experts.

Public health experts say the United States’ departure could cripple the WHO’s operations or leave an opening for China to assume greater control over the agency.

The United States will leave the World Health Organization, President Donald Trump said on Monday, saying the global health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.

President Donald Trump said he was open to potentially rejoining the World Health Organization (WHO), just days after signing an executive order withdrawing the U.S. from participating.