U.S. Pays USD1600M of USD4B UN Debt
Washington's latest transfer represents a "partial payment of its past dues," media cited a UN spokesperson as saying on Thursday. The sum amounts to a fraction of the $2.19 billion the US reportedly owes toward the UN's regular operating budget and an additional $2.4 billion in outstanding current and past peacekeeping obligations. The US alone accounts for roughly 95% of all overdue payments to the UN's regular budget, media quoted the organization's spokesperson as confirming.
The payment arrives as UN Secretary-General António Guterres has sounded the alarm over what he describes as a looming "imminent financial collapse," warning that member states must either meet their mandatory payment obligations or the organization must fundamentally restructure its financial framework.
Washington's record as the UN's largest single donor has deteriorated sharply under Trump's revived "America First" agenda. Last year, the administration slashed voluntary contributions to multiple UN agencies and gutted foreign aid spending. While Washington pledged $2 billion for UN humanitarian programs in December — accompanied by a pointed ultimatum to "adapt or die" — that figure pales against the $14.1 billion the US contributed in 2024.
Compounding the financial uncertainty is Trump's push to install his newly created Gaza Board of Peace as a supervisory body over the UN itself. Speaking at the board's inaugural Washington event on Thursday, Trump declared:
"The United Nations… is going to be much stronger and the 'Board of Peace' is going to almost be looking over the United Nations and making sure it runs properly," he said at the inaugural Board of Peace event in Washington.
The board would help the struggling UN "money-wise" and make sure it's "viable," he said.
Originally conceived to guide Gaza's stabilization in the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Board of Peace has drawn sharp rebuke from UN experts, who have argued that oversight by such a body is "reminiscent of colonial practices," citing Trump's personal chairmanship of the board rather than placing it under transparent multilateral or UN-led governance.
Even as he pledged financial support, Trump used Thursday's platform to repeat familiar criticisms of the world body, casting it as ineffective while positioning his administration as the steward needed to reform it — a dual posture that analysts warn could progressively erode the independence of the 80-year-old institution.
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