Trump claims to fix UN financial crisis ‘very easily’ amid US withholding $4 billion in dues

United Nations: While the US withholding nearly $ 4 billion in dues to the UN is sending it to the edge of a financial precipice, President Donald Trump has claimed that he could solve the problem “very easily”.

In his interview with Politico on Sunday (local time), he did not, however, say that he would release the funds that the US owes, which, according to the UN, is at the centre of its financial crisis.

In a letter to heads of UN missions, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world body is in “imminent financial collapse”, but without mentioning the US arrears.

According to a UN official, Washington owes $2.196 billion to the UN’s regular budget and $1.8 billion to its separate peacekeeping budget.

Excluding the 2026 regular budget assessment of $768 million, for which it has time till the end of the year to pay up, the past dues of the US are $1.429 billion.

The US is the single biggest contributor to the UN, accounting for 22 per cent of the regular budget based on an assessment set by the General Assembly through an intricate formula, and its arrears have an outsized impact.

Trump, who has hurled vitriol against the UN and pulled out from several of its units and related agencies, took a more conciliatory tone in the Politico interview, framing it as a possible legacy.

“When I’m no longer around to settle wars, the UN can. It has tremendous potential. Tremendous”, he said.

Trump has claimed to have ended eight wars singlehandedly and has pitched the Board of Peace, which was set up with a UN Security Council OK to oversee the end of the Gaza conflict and rebuilding it, as an alternative to the UN.

He repeated the assertion about the UN’s possibilities when the chatter about the UN leaving New York came up.

“The UN is not leaving New York, and it’s not leaving the United States, because the UN has tremendous potential,” he said.

As a cost-saving measure, the UN has moved some of its functions to less costly venues abroad and is considering shifting others.

Trump told Politico that he would make countries pay up their dues to the UN in minutes.

None of the other countries that are major contributors, including China, which accounts for 18 per cent of the budget, are in arrears for 2025 or the previous years, and they have till the end of the year to pay their 2026 assessments.

Trump, however, told Politico that “If they (UN) came to Trump and told him [about the problem], I’d get everybody to pay up, just like I got NATO to pay up,” he said.

“All I have to do is call these countries… they would send checks within minutes”, he added, without saying what he intends to do about the US’s arrears.

Only some of the smaller contributors, like Mexico and Venezuela, are in arrears, and making them pay up would not make a difference to the UN’s fiscal viability.

Trump’s reference to NATO was about the military pact’s 30 other members agreeing to raise their defence budgets to 5 per cent of their gross domestic product after Trump browbeat them about not contributing enough for their collective security.

(One country, Spain, has defied Trump and refused increase its defence budget to that level.)

Unlike in the case of NATO, where countries can increase their defence spending to meet Trump’s demand, the UN contributions are set by the General Assembly, and Trump cannot unilaterally change the assessments.

Guterres said in his letter to UN missions, “Either all member states honour their obligations to pay in full and on time — or member states must fundamentally overhaul our financial rules to prevent an imminent financial collapse”.

If Trump were to pick up on that and call for changing the rules about calculating the contributions of member nations, he would face a tremendous challenge in getting the required majority of the 193 members to agree on new regulations and a formula.

The $4 billion question remained unanswered: Would Trump pay up the dues?

A UN official warned that the organisation could run out of funds by July and theoretically would not be able to hold the high-level General Assembly meeting in September when world leaders converge on the UN’s New York headquarters.

Its iconic glass-facade headquarters could close, the official said.

(Arul Louis can be contacted at arul.l@ians.in)

–IANS