Trump claims to fix UN financial crisis 'very easily' amid US withholding $4 billion in dues

United Nations: While the US withholding nearly $ 4 billion in dues to the UN is sending it to the edge of a financial precipice, President Donald Trump has claimed that he could solve the problem "very easily".

In his interview with Politico on Sunday (local time), he did not, however, say that he would release the funds that the US owes, which, according to the UN, is at the centre of its financial crisis.

In a letter to heads of UN missions, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the world body is in "imminent financial collapse", but without mentioning the US arrears.

According to a UN official, Washington owes $2.196 billion to the UN's regular budget and $1.8 billion to its separate peacekeeping budget.

Excluding the 2026 regular budget assessment of $768 million, for which it has time till the end of the year to pay up, the past dues of the US are $1.429 billion.

The US is the single biggest contributor to the UN, accounting for 22 per cent of the regular budget based on an assessment set by the General Assembly through an intricate formula, and its arrears have an outsized impact.

Trump, who has hurled vitriol against the UN and pulled out from several of its units and related agencies, took a more conciliatory tone in the Politico interview, framing it as a possible legacy.

"When I'm no longer around to settle wars, the UN can. It has tremendous potential. Tremendous", he said.

Trump has claimed to have ended eight wars singlehandedly and has pitched the Board of Peace, which was set up with a UN Security Council OK to oversee the end of the Gaza conflict and rebuilding it, as an alternative to the UN.

He repeated the assertion about the UN's possibilities when the chatter about the UN leaving New York came up.

"The UN is not leaving New York, and it's not leaving the United States, because the UN has tremendous potential," he said.

As a cost-saving measure, the UN has moved some of its functions to less costly venues abroad and is considering shifting others.

Trump told Politico that he would make countries pay up their dues to the UN in minutes.

None of the other countries that are major contributors, including China, which accounts for 18 percent of the budget, are in arrears for 2025 or the previous years, and they have till the end of the year to pay their 2026 assessments.

Trump, however, told Politico that "If they (UN) came to Trump and told him [about the problem], I'd get everybody to pay up, just like I got NATO to pay up," he said. (IANS)

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