President Trump’s administration has officially rejected a sweeping set of global health regulations pushed by the World Health Organization—regulations that would have handed massive new powers to an unelected international body and effectively forced the United States to take orders the next time a “public health emergency” is declared.
In a joint statement, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. is formally rejecting the 2024 amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR)—a legal framework drafted by the WHO that seeks to strip member nations of health sovereignty during global health events.
The Trump administration’s move effectively pulls the plug on what many have described as a Trojan Horse—a quiet attempt to override national decision-making and empower global bureaucrats to dictate lockdowns, vaccine mandates, digital health IDs, censorship policies, and more.
“We will put Americans first in all our actions and we will not tolerate international policies that infringe on Americans’ speech, privacy, or personal liberties,” Secretary Rubio stated.
Secretary Kennedy followed with a more pointed message, releasing a video that lays out exactly why these amendments had to be rejected.
The proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations open the door to the kind of narrative management, propaganda, and censorship that we saw during the COVID pandemic. The United States can cooperate with other nations without jeopardizing our civil liberties,… pic.twitter.com/k9IWRavu9D
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) July 18, 2025
“We are rejecting the World Health Organization’s amendments to the International Health Regulations. And I want to explain why,” Kennedy says in the video.
“Nations who accept the new regulations are signing over their power in health emergencies to an unelected international organization that could order lockdowns, travel restrictions, or any other measures it sees fit.”
And it gets worse: Under the proposed rules, the WHO would not even need to declare a pandemic. It would only need to cite the “potential for public health risks”—a phrase broad enough to include just about anything from bird flu to climate change.
No Congressional debate. No Senate vote. No public oversight. Just a rubber stamp for global rule.
Kennedy also warned that the IHR amendments pave the way for state-run censorship, digital surveillance, and mass behavioral control—all under the guise of public health. It’s a permanent infrastructure for the kind of authoritarianism seen during COVID, but on a global scale.
“This regulation opens the door to the kind of narrative management, propaganda, and censorship that we saw during the COVID pandemic,” he explained.
“We don’t want to see that kind of system institutionalized even further.”
And he’s right. The proposed amendments include language that encourages governments to “counter misinformation”—an open invitation to crack down on dissenting views. Meanwhile, vaccine passports, digital health IDs, and centralized biometric databases are all being folded into the WHO’s long-term plans.
“Maybe if the WHO were an infallible authority untainted by industry influence, we would consider accepting the new regulations,” Kennedy said.
“Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic demonstrated otherwise.”
He specifically pointed to the WHO’s well-documented failures in the early days of the pandemic—including their collusion with the Chinese Communist Party, their delay in acknowledging human-to-human transmission, and their opposition to early travel bans.
“That’s why we’re rejecting the amendments,” Kennedy concluded.
If Biden had been re-elected in 2024—or if Kamala Harris had taken over—the U.S. would almost certainly be locked into this arrangement already. In fact, Kennedy confirmed that the Biden administration had already signaled quiet support for the new IHR framework, hoping to usher it through without public scrutiny.
It took a return to America First leadership to slam the brakes on the globalist machinery. With Trump back in the White House, and with a cabinet unafraid to confront global overreach, the U.S. is once again drawing a hard line.
This isn’t just about health policy. It’s about constitutional self-rule vs. international control. And in this fight, the Trump administration made clear: America doesn’t take orders from the WHO.