GENEVA/BERLIN - Berlin will try to talk US President Donald Trump out of his decision to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization, Germany's health minister said on Tuesday.

The UN agency also said that it hoped that its top donor country would change its mind and looked forward to a constructive dialogue with Trump's team.

"The new US president's announcement to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO) is a serious blow to the international fight against global health crises," Karl Lauterbach said.

READ MORE: WHO ‘makes last-ditch effort to keep US from leaving as Trump takes over’

"We will try to persuade Donald Trump to reconsider this decision," he added.

Germany is the second largest national donor to the WHO, contributing around 3 percent of the agency's funding.

Trump announced the withdrawal on Monday, alleging that the global health agency had mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.

ALSO READ: Trump withdraws US from Paris climate agreement, again

In the UN agency's first reaction to the move, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević told reporters in Geneva: "We hope that United States will reconsider, and we really hope that there will be constructive dialogue for the benefit of everyone, for Americans but also for people around the world."