Argentina will pull out of the World Health Organization (WHO), a presidential spokesperson said on Wednesday (February 5), following President Donald Trump's executive order last month to pull the United States out of the global health group.

Trump signs order to pull US from WHO, citing funding disparities

Trump, who Argentina's libertarian President Javier Milei considers a close ally, moved to exit the organization on his first day in office on January 20.

Milei ordered Argentina's withdrawal because of "deep differences" regarding the WHO's management of health issues, notably the COVID-19 pandemic, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said, citing Argentina's months-long lockdown under the previous leftist government of president Alberto Fernandez.

Trump similarly claimed the global health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises, and that it required "unfairly onerous" payments from the United States, its biggest funder.