Already at the end of May, President Donald Trump made it clear that the United States is withdrawing from all cooperation with the World Health Organization, ending its membership. This is after he has long criticized the WHO's handling of the corona pandemic.
The fact that the US leaves the WHO also has financial consequences as the country's contribution to the organization accounts for about 15 percent of the grant. The EU accounts for about a quarter.
"Our relationship with the United States is not altered by the US message, but Sweden's attitude is that the world needs more cooperation, not less, to fight cross-border threats to human health," Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde writes in a statement to TT.
- The United States is an important player for global health and for us to get through this pandemic, and future ones, work is facilitated if we do it together. This is a position that Sweden and the EU will continue to pursue, writes Ann Linde.
If Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden wins the US presidential election in November this year, he has promised to tear up the decision.