US pledges $2 billion for UN humanitarian aid as Trump cuts funding and warns agencies to ‘adapt or die’

GENEVA (AP) — The United States on Monday announced a $2 billion pledge for U.N. humanitarian aid as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to cut U.S. foreign aid and warns U.N. agencies to “adapt, shrink or die” amid new financial realities.

The money is a small fraction of past U.S. contributions, but it reflects the administration’s belief that it is a generous amount that will maintain the United States’ status as the world’s largest humanitarian donor.

The pledge creates an umbrella fund from which money will be channeled to individual agencies and priorities, a key part of U.S. demands for drastic changes to the world body that have angered many humanitarian workers and led to severe cuts to programs and services.

That $2 billion is only a fraction of traditional U.S. humanitarian funding for UN-backed programs, which have run up to $17 billion annually in recent years, according to U.N. figures. US officials say only $8-$10 billion of that is in voluntary contributions. The United States pays billions in annual dues to the United Nations membership.

Critics say the Western aid cuts are short-sighted, pushing millions into starvation, displacement or disease, and harming US soft power around the world.

The year of the aid crisis

The move caps a crisis year for many UN agencies such as refugee, migration and food aid agencies. The Trump administration has already cut billions in U.S. foreign aid, prompting them to slash spending, aid projects and cut thousands of jobs. Other traditional Western donors also cut spending.

The announced U.S. commitment to aid programs at the U.N. — the world’s top humanitarian aid provider and the largest recipient of U.S. humanitarian aid funds — takes shape in a preliminary agreement with the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, run by a former British diplomat and government official.

Even as the US withdraws its aid, needs have increased around the world: famine has been recorded this year in parts of conflict-ridden Sudan and Gaza, and floods, droughts and natural disasters that many scientists attribute to climate change have killed many or driven thousands from their homes.

The cuts will have a major impact on affiliated organizations such as the United Nations’ International Organization for International Development, the World Food Program and the refugee agency UNHCR. They have received billions less from the U.S. this year than in annual appropriations from the previous Biden administration or even during Trump’s first term.

Now, the idea is that Fletcher’s office – which last year set in motion a “humanitarian reset” to improve the efficiency, accountability and effectiveness of money spent – will become a funnel for US and other aid money that can then be redirected to those agencies, rather than scattering US contributions to various individual appeals for aid.

US seeks aid consolidation

The United States wants to see “more consolidated leadership” in the UN aid delivery system, 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.

Under the plan, Fletcher and his coordinating office are “going to control the spigot” on how money is distributed to agencies, the official said.

“This humanitarian resettlement at the United Nations should provide more aid with fewer tax dollars — providing more focused, results-driven assistance aligned with U.S. foreign policy,” said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Michael Waltz.

US officials said the $2 billion was just the first outlay to help fund OCHA’s annual appeal, announced earlier this month. Fletcher, noting the altered aid scenario, cut requests earlier this year. Other traditional UN donors, such as Britain, France, Germany and Japan, have cut aid allocations this year and sought reforms.

“The agreement requires the United Nations to strengthen humanitarian operations to reduce bureaucratic overhead, unnecessary duplication and ideological resentment,” the State Department said in a statement. “Individual UN agencies will need to adapt, shrink or die.”

“Nowhere is reform more important than in the UN’s most critical working humanitarian agencies,” the department added. “Today’s agreement is an important step in those reform efforts, while balancing President Trump’s commitment to remain the world’s most liberal nation, we need to improve the way we fund, oversee and integrate with UN humanitarian efforts.”

At its core, the reform project will help establish pools of funds that can be directed to countries with particular crises or needs. A total of 17 countries will be targeted initially, including Bangladesh, Congo, Haiti, Syria and Ukraine.

Afghanistan, one of the world’s most depressed countries, is not included, nor are the Palestinian territories, which officials say will be covered by money generated by Trump’s still-unfinished Gaza peace plan.

The project, months in the making, stems from Trump’s long-held view that the world body has made big promises, but failed to deliver on them, and — in his eyes — has strayed too far from its original mandate to save lives by undermining American interests, promoting radical ideology and encouraging wasteful, unaccountable spending.

“At a moment of extreme global tension, the United States is demonstrating that it is a humanitarian superpower, giving hope to people who have lost everything,” Fletcher said in a statement praising the agreement.

___

Lee reported from Washington.