Echoing a tweet that he posted earlier in the day, Mr. Trump also accused the group of being “very China-centric” though he did not explain in detail what he meant by that.

“That’s a nice way of saying it, but they seem to be very China-centric,” the president said. “They seem to err always on the side of China. And we fund it. So I want to look into it.”

The budget for the W.H.O. is about $6 billion, which comes from member countries around the world. In 2019, the last year for which figures were available, the United States contributed about $553 million.

It was unclear whether Mr. Trump planned to eliminate all of the money that the United States sends to the organization, but he said that “we’re going to look at it.” He added that his government would investigate the W.H.O., saying that “we will look at ending funding.”

Mr. Trump appeared to relish having a new target to blame for the pandemic that has plunged the world — and the United States — into deep economic distress and forced people to abandon their jobs, close schools and stay in their homes to curb the virus’s spread.

The president sometimes issues threats on which he later does not follow through. But if his administration does withdraw all of its funding to the W.H.O. — which accounts for about 10 percent of the group’s budget — it could significantly affect its mission.

Founded in 1948, the W.H.O. has its headquarters in Geneva but has 7,000 workers in 150 offices around the world. Its website says that it works to promote primary health care around the world, improve access to essential medicine and help train health care workers.