WASHINGTON (TNND) — California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced that the state was the first to join the World Health Organization’s Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network.

This announcement comes after President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the WHO.

“As President Trump withdraws the United States from the World Health Organization, California is stepping up under Governor Gavin Newsom — becoming the first, and currently the only, state to join the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network (GOARN), strengthening public health preparedness and rapid response coordination,” Nesom’s office said in a press release.

Newsom called the president’s decision “reckless.”

The California governor met with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom to discuss collaboration on public health threats.

Last year, Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO.

“The United States noticed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020 due to the organization’s mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states,” the White House said in a statement last January.

Last month, Newsom also announced the launch of the Public Health Network Innovation Exchange in order to modernize public health infrastructure.