The Trump administration paid $725 million to the United Nations, the organization said on Wednesday. This reduced Washington’s substantial arrears and ensured that the United States would retain its right to vote in the UN General Assembly, which will convene in New York next week. Reuters reports, UNN writes.
Details
It is noted that Trump criticized the global organization for what he believed was its failure to fulfill its potential and cut funding for many UN agencies. When an American official was asked about the planned payment last month, he said that any payments would depend on the continuation of reforms at the UN.
"Yesterday, we received $725 million from the United States for the UN regular budget, and on Friday we also received $102 million from the United States for peacekeeping operations," UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said.
"The United States still owes $1.312 billion to the regular budget," he said, adding that "taking these payments into account, the United States is no longer at risk of losing its voting rights under Article 19 in 2027."
Under Article 19 of the UN Charter, a member state loses its right to vote in the General Assembly if its arrears exceed the amount of its contributions for two years, although grace periods may be granted.
The Trump administration has carried out an unprecedented downsizing of the federal government, saying it was bloated, and has significantly cut domestic and foreign grants as part of efforts that, it says, were intended to direct funds toward objectives aligned with the interests of American taxpayers.
Supplement
The United States is the largest donor to the UN budget, but under the Trump administration it has been slower to make mandatory payments to the regular and peacekeeping budgets and has sharply reduced voluntary funding for UN agencies, which have their own budgets.
China, the second-largest donor, also paid $641.4 million on September 1 as a contribution to the regular budget, according to data on the UN website.
Additionally
UN Secretary-General António Guterres said this year that the UN was facing an "imminent financial collapse" because of unpaid contributions from member states, and the global organization has introduced significant budget cuts.