Cash-Strapped UN Says Some US Funds Are Coming Very Soon
US State Department was planning to transfer funds to UN, potentially offering some relief as the UN struggles with a worsening liquidity crunch.
The head of the United Nations says some of the funds it’s owed by the US are coming “very soon,” although the Trump administration will still owe the global body more than $4.5 billion.
Asked on Thursday if the US will pay the UN $725 million in regular budget dues that it owes, Secretary General Antonio Guterres confirmed to reporters that “according to our information this will be very soon.”
The US will also pay $125 million toward peacekeeping missions, Guterres’s spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said.
The remarks follow reports last week that the State Department was planning to transfer funds to the world body’s regular and peacekeeping budgets, potentially offering some relief as the UN struggles with a worsening liquidity crunch.
The UN’s financial woes are mostly related to the Trump administration’s unwillingness to pay amid a broader slash in foreign aid spending and a campaign to pressure the UN to shift its priorities, including from gender and climate issues.
Since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, the US only made its first contribution to the UN earlier this year, transferring about $160 million to the regular budget.
That was only a fraction of its outstanding bill. The Trump administration has accumulated roughly $2 billion in outstanding regular budget dues to the organization, on top of around $3 billion for peacekeeping. After the planned payments, the US will still owe more than $4.5 billion.
Traditionally, Washington has been responsible for 22% of the UN’s regular budget funds and over a quarter of peacekeeping, making it the biggest contributor to the organization.
But Trump has long complained that Washington shoulders a disproportionate share of the UN’s expenses and has used funding as leverage in a broader push to cut costs and reshape an institution he has repeatedly criticized as bloated and ineffective.
The unpaid dues have put significant financial strain on the UN, with the organization’s budget chief warning in July that without new payments from the US and China — its two biggest funders — the UN wouldn’t have cash beyond August.
