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Geneva — The United States on Monday announced a $2 billion commitment for U.N. humanitarian aid as President Trump’s administration continues to cut U.S. foreign aid and warns U.N. agencies to “adapt, shrink or die” in an era of new financial realities.
The money represents only a small fraction of what the United States has contributed in the past, but reflects what the administration considers a generous amount that will maintain the United States’ status as the world’s largest humanitarian donor.
The commitment creates a general fund from which money will be distributed to individual agencies and priorities, a key part of U.S. demands for drastic changes globally that have alarmed many aid workers and led to severe cuts to programs and services.
The $2 billion is just a fraction of traditional U.S. humanitarian funding for U.N.-backed programs, which has reached $17 billion a year in recent years, according to U.N. data. U.S. officials say only $8 billion to $10 billion has been given in voluntary contributions. The United States also pays billions in annual dues related to its UN membership.
Critics say Western aid cuts have been shortsighted, pushed millions into hunger, displacement or disease and damaged U.S. soft power around the world.
The decision caps a year of crisis for many United Nations organizations, such as those responsible for refugees, migration and food aid. The Trump administration has already cut billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid, prompting it to slash spending, aid projects and thousands of jobs. Other traditional Western donors have also cut spending.
The United States’ announced commitment to U.N. aid programs — the world’s largest provider of humanitarian aid and the largest recipient of U.S. humanitarian aid — takes shape in a preliminary agreement with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, led by Tom Fletcher, a former diplomat and British government official.
Even as the United States withdraws aid, needs have exploded across the world: famine has been recorded this year in some conflict-ridden regions. Sudan And Gazaand the floods, droughts, and natural disasters that many scientists attribute to climate change have cost many lives or driven thousands from their homes.
These cuts will have major implications for UN-affiliated organizations like the International Organization for Migration, the World Food Program and the refugee agency UNHCR. They have already received billions less from the United States this year than under the previous Biden administration’s annual allocations, or even during Mr. Trump’s first term.
Today, the idea is that Fletcher’s office — which last year launched a “humanitarian reset” to improve the efficiency, accountability and effectiveness of money spent — will become a conduit for U.S. and other aid, which can then be redirected to those agencies, rather than scattered U.S. contributions to a variety of individual appeals for aid.
The United States wants to see “more consolidated leadership authority” in U.N. aid delivery systems, a senior State Department official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details ahead of the announcement at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Geneva.
As part of the plan, Fletcher and his coordinating office “are going to control how money is distributed to agencies,” the official said.
“This humanitarian reset at the United Nations should deliver more aid with less taxpayer money – providing more targeted, results-oriented assistance aligned with U.S. foreign policy,” said U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz.
U.S. officials say the $2 billion is just an initial outlay to help finance OCHA’s annual fundraising appeal, announced earlier this month. Fletcher, seeing the upheaval in the aid landscape, has already scaled back demand this year. Other traditional U.N. donors, such as Britain, France, Germany and Japan, have cut their aid allocations and sought reforms this year.
“The agreement requires the United Nations to consolidate its humanitarian functions to reduce bureaucratic costs, unnecessary duplication and ideological drift,” the State Department said in a statement. “Every UN agency will have to adapt, shrink or die. »
“Nowhere is reform more important than humanitarian agencies, which carry out some of the UN’s most crucial work,” the department added. “Today’s agreement is a crucial step in these reform efforts, balancing President Trump’s commitment to remaining the world’s most generous nation, with the imperative to reform how we fund, oversee and integrate the UN’s humanitarian efforts.
Crucially, the reform project will help establish funding reserves that can be directed either to specific crises or to countries in need. In total, 17 countries will be targeted initially, including Bangladesh, Congo, Haiti, Syria And Ukraine.
One of the most desperate countries in the world, Afghanistanis not included, nor are the Palestinian territories, which officials say will be covered by money from Mr. Trump’s still-incomplete Gaza peace plan.
The plan, months in the making, stems from Mr. Trump’s long-held view that the global organization holds great promise but has failed to deliver and has, in his eyes, strayed too far from its original mandate of saving lives while undermining American interests, promoting radical ideologies and encouraging wasteful and irresponsible spending.
Fletcher welcomed the deal, saying in a statement: “At a time of immense global tension, the United States is demonstrating that it is a humanitarian superpower, offering hope to people who have lost everything.
