President Donald Trump signed a powerful executive order on Monday that immediately bans all federal funding for gain-of-function biological research in high-risk countries—including China and Iran—citing the catastrophic consequences of past experiments gone wrong.

“Dangerous and reckless biological experiments will no longer be bankrolled by American taxpayers,” Trump said in a statement released alongside the order. “We’re shutting the door on gain-of-function research in countries that lack basic safety and transparency.”

The move comes as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive effort to reassert U.S. leadership on biosecurity while protecting Americans from the kinds of lab leaks that officials believe may have caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

The White House cited the Wuhan Institute of Virology and EcoHealth Alliance—both of which were involved in manipulating bat coronaviruses prior to the outbreak—as examples of what happens when gain-of-function studies are carried out without proper oversight. That kind of research aims to make viruses more infectious or deadly, often under the pretense of preparing for future pandemics.

But Trump and his team argue that the risks far outweigh the potential benefits.

“There’s no laboratory that’s immune from leaks—and this is going to prevent inadvertent leaks from happening in the future and endangering humanity,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who stood beside Trump at the executive order signing.

Jay Bhattacharya, director at the National Institutes of Health and a longtime critic of pandemic overreach, praised the move: “Any nation that engages in this research endangers their own population, as well as the world, as we saw during the COVID pandemic.”

The executive order specifically prohibits federal funding from being sent to countries with weak or non-transparent safety protocols, with China and Iran called out by name. But it goes further than that. The order gives broad authority to federal research agencies to terminate any project—foreign or domestic—that poses a credible threat to public health or national security.

“For decades, policies overseeing gain-of-function research on pathogens, toxins, and potential pathogens have lacked adequate enforcement, transparency, and top-down oversight,” the White House said in a fact sheet. “Researchers have not acknowledged the legitimate potential for societal harms that this kind of research poses.”

The order also takes aim at what the White House describes as a culture of academic indifference toward biohazards, where elite labs ignore potential risks in favor of prestige and funding. With this new framework, any research involving high-risk pathogens—whether viruses, bacteria, or biotoxins—will be scrutinized and potentially defunded if it doesn’t meet strict U.S. safety and ethical standards.

Trump’s action follows years of mounting public skepticism over the origins of COVID-19 and what many see as a lack of accountability from global health institutions. The administration is also drawing parallels to past biosecurity failures, including the 1977 Russian flu, which many experts now believe was caused by a lab accident.

With the 2026 midterms on the horizon, Trump is betting that voters will reward a firm stance on science with national security implications. His administration argues this isn’t about stifling innovation—it’s about demanding accountability and preventing the next global pandemic.

“We are not funding foreign labs that gamble with human life,” Trump said. “We’re going to invest in research that protects American lives—not puts them at risk.”

In short, the Trump administration is signaling that the era of blank checks for foreign bio labs is over—and Washington is taking back control of the science that impacts its citizens.