That’s for those of you who saw the Washington Post article telling us that we are committed to paying $893 billion over two years to the World Health Organization (WHO). If Trump moves to cut back or eliminate this funding it is not going to have a major impact on our budget situation.

On the plus side, if the U.S. cuts back support for the WHO, it may be better positioned to promote compulsory licensing of drugs produced by the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. This could radically reduce the prices paid for drugs by many developing countries. (European countries with large pharmaceutical companies are likely to continue to oppose compulsory licensing.)