US to pay $850 million of $5 billion owed to United Nations
The US government has notified Congress of plans to pay $850 million of the several billion it owes the United Nations — the largest single payment the Trump administration would make to the world body since demanding sweeping reforms in exchange for its continued support as the UN's largest donor.
The State Department has laid out plans to transfer $725 million toward its dues to the regular UN budget and $125 million toward UN peacekeeping operations in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to notifications sent to lawmakers this month and obtained by the Associated Press.
The US is behind on about $5 billion in dues linked to its UN membership, with more than $2 billion owed toward the regular budget and $3 billion for peacekeeping operations, the UN says.
In February, the Trump administration made a single payment of $160 million, shortly after UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned the institution faced "imminent financial collapse" unless its financial rules were overhauled or all 193 member states paid their dues — a message clearly aimed at Washington.
President Donald Trump and his allies have spent the past year and a half demanding drastic changes across the UN, alarming humanitarian workers and driving severe cuts to programmes and services. Trump has publicly criticised the world body for falling short of its potential; his administration paid nothing to the UN in 2025 and has withdrawn from UN organisations including the World Health Organization and UNESCO, while cutting funding to dozens of others.
The notices, sent August 4 and first reported by Reuters, drew some initial pushback from Republicans on Capitol Hill, who argued the appropriations do not fully address the administration's concerns over what it calls bloated UN staffing and ideological positions at odds with Trump's anti-woke agenda.
A GOP congressional aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because lawmakers have not yet decided how or whether to respond to the notifications, said they did not appear to go far enough in withholding US assistance from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
The US mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
