The United Nations is on the Verge of “Imminent Financial Collapse,” in Large part due to the Failure of Member States to Pay their Mandatory Dues, Secretary General António Guterres, Portuguese Politician and Diplomat, who has Served as the Ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations since 1/1/2017, said in a Letter sent this week to the 193 U.N. Ambassadors.
Leading the List of those in Arrears is the U.S., which Owes nearly $2.2 billion in Overdue and Current Assessments, for the Regular U.N. Operating Budget, Dating back to the end of 2024, and Hundreds-of-Millions in Funds Pledged or Assessed to other Programs.
Under a Formula in which each Nation Pays Annually according to its Gross National Income, Population, and Debt, the U.S. is Assessed 22% of the Regular Budget, which for 2026 is $3.45 billion. Closely following is China, which is Assessed 20% and paid up until the Beginning of 2026. The Next Highest Arrears, $38 million, is Owed by Venezuela. Caracas’s Vote in the General Assembly has been Suspended, as Mandated by the Organization’s Charter for any Member that doesn’t Pay for Two years.
“We have managed difficult periods of unpaid assessed contributions before,” Guterres wrote without Mentioning any Specific Country. “But today’s situation is categorically different. The current trajectory is untenable.” Republican Administrations and Lawmakers have Long Criticized the U.N. as Wasteful, Liberal, and Ineffective, and in some years has Reduced or Temporarily withheld Partial Payments. The Trump (R) administration has Refused to Pay-at-All, although it has Not Officially informed the U.N. whether it intends to make any Future or Overdue Payments.
Although Annual Payments are usually Due in January, many Countries Pay in Tranches throughout the year. The Biden (D) Administration left Office last January, with its SecondH-Half 2024 Assessment Unpaid. The U.S. Mission at the U.N., where Trump’s former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz serves as Ambassador, did Not Respond to Queries on the Budget.
Trump has said the U.N. has Great “Potential” but is Not Lliving up to its Promise to Keep World Peace. In an Executive Order Signed Early this Month, He Ordered U.S. Withdrawal from 66 International Organizations, Agencies, and Commissions, nearly Half of them at the U.N., because, He said, they “undermine America’s independence and waste taxpayer dollars on ineffective or hostile agendas.”
Trump’s recently Announced Board of Peace, Originally Designed as the Supervisory Board for Implementing His Gaza Peace Plan, has led to Concerns that He Plans to Replace the U.N. Altogether. In a Letter sent to 60 World Leaders Invited to join (25 have officially signed up so far, none of them major U.S. allies), Trump said the Board would “embark on a bold new approach to resolving Global Conflict.” Trump Appointed Himself Board Chair, with Personal Veto Power over Membership and Virtually every Action it might take.
Responding to Reporters Thursday, who asked whether He thought the Board was a U.N. Competitor, Guterres said: “In my opinion, the basic responsibility for international peace and security lies with U.N., lies with the Security Council. No other body or other coalition can legally be required to have all member states to comply with decisions on peace and security.“Global problems will not be solved by one power,” Guterres said.
Trump has also Withdrawn U.S. Participation from Other U.N. Agencies whose Budgets are Separate and Voluntary, including the World Health Organization. Other Voluntary Humanitarian Programs, include Refugee and Natural Disaster Aid, to which the Administration last month Pledged $2 billion, a Fraction of what Washington has Contributed in the Past. In Addition to the Problem of Unpaid Dues, Guterres in His Letter, Called on the General Assembly to Revise a System in which any Budgeted Money that is Unspent at year’s End is Returned to Member Governments, Whether-or-Not they have Paid their Dues.
“We are suffering a double blow: on one side, unpaid contributions; and on the other side, an obligation to return funds that were never received in the first place,” He wrote. “In other words, we are trapped in a Kafkaesque cycle; expected to give back cash that does not exist.” U.N. Officials expect this Problem, if left Unaddressed, to Increase Exponentially by 2027, as the Amount of Money that must be Returned Cuts into each New Year’s Available Funds. The U.N. could Run Out of Cash as Early as July 2026, by some Accounts, if neither the Dues nor the Financial System is Addressed.
Guterres, whose Term Expires at the End of 2026, Sounded the Alarm in 2025 and Proposed Cutting the Regular Operating Budget by as much as 20% via Staff Cuts, Streamlining, Building Sales, and Relocation of some Offices from Expensive Locations, such as Geneva, to Less Costly Regions. The General Assembly Finally Approved a 2026 Regular Budget that was 7.6% lower than 2025. In an Interview with the New York Post earlier this Month, Waltz Claimed U.S. Credit for Forcing the U.N. to Accept “actual real cuts for the first time in its modern history. ... They’ve never seen anything like it.”
Saying He was Now Pushing to Revamp Pension and Compensation Plans, Waltz Stressed the Importance of the U.N. to International Diplomacy. “There needs to be one place in the world where Everyone can Talk,” He told the New York Post. “We want that one place in the world to be in the United States, not in Brussels or Beijing.”
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