Withdrawal symptoms: US is ceding global leadership where it matters most

Two executive orders signed by United States President Donald Trump soon after taking office offer potent examples of the sole superpower’s repudiation of leadership in critical global challenges: Climate change and health. The first is withdrawal from the 2015 Paris agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The second is to leave the World Health Organization (WHO). Both decisions represent expressions of Mr Trump’s “America First” agenda. It is an open question whether these withdrawals would benefit the US; they will certainly impact the rest of the world, especially the developing world, which accounts for 83 per