US moves to pay $725 million to UN, a fraction of what it owes

The Trump administration has begun the process of transferring $725 million to the United Nations, according to a congressional notification dated August 4. The move, which has not been previously reported, comes ahead of President Donald Trump's expected address to the UN General Assembly next month.

The payment is a fraction of the more than $4 billion the UN says Washington owes, including $2.04 billion for the regular budget, $2.2 billion for peacekeeping, and $44 million for tribunals. The US has disputed the total, noting it has made some payments.

Aid experts said the transfer would help the UN cover salaries for a period but would not resolve its deeper financial woes. Eugene Chen, a former UN official, said it "keeps the ship afloat a little longer," but warned that without further payments, the US could lose its voting rights in January. Under Article 19 of the UN Charter, a member state loses its General Assembly vote if arrears exceed two years of annual fees.

Ronny Patz, an expert on UN finance at German think tank IDOS, said a significant payment now could avert immediate spending cuts. "If they pay a big chunk, the UN still runs on zero reserves but it gets through the year," he said. "If they don't pay, the UN might really be in trouble for the last two or three months of the year."

The UN has faced "imminent financial collapse," according to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and has implemented budget cuts and a reform exercise known as "UN80," including a 9.2% cut to its 2026 budget and the relocation of over 2,000 jobs from expensive cities.

The US is the UN's largest contributor, but under Trump it has withheld mandatory payments to regular and peacekeeping budgets, slashed voluntary funding, and withdrawn from several UN bodies. The State Department did not respond to requests for comment. As of August 18, 129 of 193 member states had paid their dues in full; China, the second-largest contributor, was not among them.