Trump’s Executive Orders and China’s Global Health Influence

Editor's Note

Shortly after assuming office last week, President Donald Trump signed a tranche of executive orders that included withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as pausing the disbursement of overseas development assistance.

To kick off this week, CFR Senior Fellow David P. Fidler unpacks how those orders will shape U.S. global health engagement over the next four years, noting that Trump's second term "signals the beginning of the end" of U.S. global health leadership.

The U.S. withdrawal from the WHO is also prompting concerns that the move could pave the way for Beijing's expanded influence in global health governance. Expecting China to fill the WHO funding gap, however, "fundamentally misreads Beijing's approach to global health leadership," argues CFR Senior Fellow Yanzhong Huang. Although China could still play a larger role in global health governance, Huang suggests the country will exert its influence through its Silk Road Initiative and bilateral aid rather than write checks to Geneva.

Moving to Sudan, Tim Bishop and Christina Wille from Insecurity Insight illustrate how the country's ongoing civil war threatens its already weak food system, putting millions more at risk of famine and disease.

To wrap up the issue, medical interpreter Eunice Chung draws on her experience to advocate for more Chinese dialectal interpreters to improve health outcomes for the hundreds of thousands Chinese immigrants with limited English proficiency in the United States.

Until next week!—Caroline Kantis, Associate Editor