US pledges $2B for UN humanitarian aid as Trump slashes funding and warns agencies to ‘adapt or die’
GENEVA (AP) — The United States on Monday announced a $2 billion commitment for U.N. humanitarian assistance as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to cut U.S. foreign aid and warn United Nations agencies to “adapt, shrink or die” at a time when new fiscal realities are emerging.
The money is a small fraction of what the United States has contributed in the past, but it reflects what the administration believes is a generous amount that will maintain the United States’ status as the world’s largest humanitarian donor.
The pledge creates an umbrella fund from which money will be distributed to individual agencies and priorities, a key part of U.S. demands for sweeping changes that have alarmed many humanitarians around the world and led to drastic cuts to programs and services.
That $2 billion is just a small portion of traditional U.S. humanitarian funding for U.N.-supported programs, which has grown to as much as $17 billion a year in recent years, according to U.N. data. US officials say only $8-10 billion of that comes from voluntary contributions. The United States also pays billions of dollars in annual dues related to its membership in the UN.
Critics say Western aid cuts shortsighted millions towards hungerdisplacement or disease and harm US soft power worldwide.
A year of crisis in aid
This move marks a year of crisis for many UN agencies, including refugee, migration and food aid agencies. There is a Trump administration Billions of dollars have already been cut in US foreign aidIt encourages them to cut spending, undertake aid projects and employ thousands of people. Other traditional Western donors also reduced spending.
The announced US commitment to aid programs at the United Nations, the world’s largest provider of humanitarian aid and the largest recipient of US humanitarian money, is shaped by a preliminary agreement with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), led by Tom Fletcher, a former British diplomat and government official.
Even if the USA withdrew its aid, needs increased around the world: Famine was recorded in conflict-affected regions this year Sudan And GazaFloods, droughts and natural disasters, which many scientists attribute to climate change, have claimed many lives or displaced thousands of people.
The cuts will have major impacts on UN agencies. International Organization for MigrationWorld Food Program and refugee agency UNHCR. This year, they have already received billions of dollars less from the United States than the annual appropriations of the previous Biden administration and even Trump’s first term.
The idea now is that Fletcher’s office, which last year set in motion a “humanitarian reset” to increase efficiency, accountability and the effectiveness of money spent, would instead of doling out U.S. contributions to various individual aid appeals, it would become a funnel for U.S. and other aid money that could then be directed to those organizations.
USA wants to strengthen aid
A senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity before the announcement at the US diplomatic mission in Geneva, said the US wants to see “more robust leadership authority” in UN aid distribution systems.
Under the plan, Fletcher and the coordinating office will “control the tap” on how the money is distributed to agencies, the official said.
“This humanitarian reset at the United Nations should provide more aid with less taxes; more focused, results-oriented aid consistent with U.S. foreign policy,” said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz.
U.S. officials say the $2 billion is the first outlay to fund OCHA’s annual appeal for money, which it announced earlier this month. Fletcher draws attention to the disrupted aid environment, saying: We have already cut demand this year. Other traditional UN donors such as Britain, France, Germany and Japan have reduced aid allocations this year and sought reform.
“The agreement requires the UN to consolidate its humanitarian functions to reduce bureaucratic burden, unnecessary duplication and ideological drift,” the State Department said in a statement. “Individual UN agencies will need to adapt, shrink or die.”
“Nowhere is reform more important than in humanitarian agencies that do some of the UN’s most critical work,” the ministry added. “Today’s agreement is a critical step in reform efforts that balance President Trump’s determination to remain the world’s most generous country with the imperative to reform how we finance, oversee and integrate the UN’s humanitarian efforts.”
In essence, the reform project will help create financing pools that can be directed to specific crises or countries in need. A total of 17 countries will initially be targeted, including Bangladesh, Congo, Haiti, Syria and Ukraine.
That list excludes Afghanistan, one of the world’s most desperate countries, and the Palestinian territories, which officials say will be covered by money from Trump’s unfinished Gaza peace plan.
The project, which has been in the works for months, stems from Trump’s long-standing view that the world body has shown great promise but has failed to deliver and has strayed too far from its original mission to save lives while – in his eyes – undermining American interests, promoting radical ideologies and encouraging wasteful, incalculable spending.
Fletcher praised the agreement in a statement, saying: “At a time of intense global tension, the United States is demonstrating that it is a humanitarian superpower and offering hope to people who have lost everything.”
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Lee reported from Washington.
