The U.S. government has notified Congress of its plans to pay $850 million of the several billion it owes to the United Nations, the largest payment the Trump administration would make to the world body since it demanded sweeping reforms in exchange for continued support as its largest donor.
The State Department laid out its plans to transfer $725 million as part of its dues to the regular U.N. budget and $125 million toward U.N. peacekeeping operations in Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to notifications sent to lawmakers this month and obtained by The Associated Press.
The U.S. is behind on about $5 billion in dues related to its U.N. membership, with more than $2 billion owed toward the regular budget and $3 billion for peacekeeping operations, the United Nations says.
The U.S. pays roughly $3 billion a day just in interest on its debt, and another ~$3 billion a day on its imperial war machine. It could easily afford what it owes the UN. But withholding UN funds as a political weapon to enforce “reforms” (e.g. attacking Palestinians, China, and other Global South countries that dare not bend the knee) is a long-standing US tradition, dating back decades. Long before Trump.