President Donald Trump’s decision to end U.S. membership in the World Health Organization revives a five-year-old grudge with the WHO’s leader. Trump has long charged that WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus covered up China’s responsibility for the Covid pandemic,

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 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.