The Trump administration said on Thursday it will add $1.8 billion to U.N. humanitarian aid, positioning the pledge as targeted relief for people facing the most urgent needs even as it has cut broader U.S. foreign assistance.
Speaking at a news conference, Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the new funding would be earmarked for lifesaving aid for victims of natural disasters, famine and “people who are truly in critical need.” The administration said the money would be allocated over the coming year and described it as continuing a commitment it began earlier, with Waltz saying the announcement was “the latest step.”
The State Department said the new contribution comes on top of a $2 billion pledge the Trump administration made in December. It said the combined U.S. support for U.N. humanitarian programs totals $3.8 billion across 21 countries and that the initial contribution delivered “life-saving assistance to 21.1 million people more quickly, more efficiently, and with greater focus on those facing the most acute humanitarian needs in less than four months.”
U.N. humanitarian planning is facing a major gap between needs and resources, according to the U.N.’s own public assessment. Tom Fletcher, the U.N. humanitarian chief, said his agency is “overstretched, under-resourced and literally under attack,” and he reiterated a 2026 plan aimed at reaching 87 million of the world’s most needy. Fletcher said the cost of that plan is $23 billion, while noting that 300 million people need humanitarian assistance.
Waltz and the State Department argued that the scale of the new U.S. pledge still reflects a generous approach, even as they acknowledged that the wider aid cuts have had ripple effects across the U.N. system. The report described that U.S. reductions have prompted U.N. agencies to cut spending and aid projects and have led to thousands of job cuts, with other traditional donors including Britain, France, Germany and Japan also reducing aid allocations.
Waltz pointed to operational changes that the administration has urged within U.N. humanitarian efforts to reduce costs, including pooling warehouses, vehicle fleets and back-office operations among U.N. agencies. He also rejected what he called a media narrative that the United States had “walked away” from helping people in need, saying it is “absolutely false.” The report said the administration has taken an à la carte approach to paying U.N. dues—picking which operations and agencies align with the Trump administration’s agenda and avoiding those it says no longer serve U.S. interests.
The United Nations says the U.S. owes $2.2 billion to its regular operating budget and $1.8 billion to a separate budget for peacekeeping operations, while the Trump administration has insisted it owes less. Waltz said that after a payment of about $160 million to the regular budget in February, “we will have an additional substantial tranche towards the regular budget coming soon.”