U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Walz speaks to the media in New York City, November 17, 2025.
Adam Gray | Getty Images
The United States will make the first payments of billions of dollars it owes the United Nations within weeks, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations told Reuters on Friday, underscoring the need for the organization to continue reforming.
Mike Walz made the comments in a phone interview after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres sounded the alarm on U.N. finances in a Jan. 28 letter to member states, warning that the 193-nation organization was at risk of “imminent financial collapse” due to unpaid fees, much of which was borne by the U.S. government.
“I have no doubt that the first funds will be deposited soon,” Walz said. “It’s going to be a significant amount of money…a down payment on the annual fee…I don’t think the final amount has been determined, but it will be determined within the next few weeks.”
U.N. officials say more than 95 percent of the U.N.’s regular budget, $2.19 billion through early February, comes from the United States. The United States also owes an additional $2.4 billion for current and past peacekeeping missions and $43.6 million for UN tribunals.
On December 30, the United Nations General Assembly approved a regular budget of $3.45 billion for 2026 after weeks of negotiations. This covers the operating costs of UN offices around the world, including headquarters in New York, staff salaries, conferences, development and human rights activities.
The UN funding crisis comes at a time when the United States, under President Donald Trump, is retreating from multilateralism in many areas. Despite a history of U.S. delinquency going back decades, U.S. arrears with the United Nations increased significantly during his presidency.
U.N. officials said the United States did not pay its regular budget last year and owes $827 million in repayments, plus $767 million in 2026.
Congressional spending bill
On Tuesday, President Trump signed a spending bill that includes $3.1 billion in U.S. dues to the United Nations and other international organizations.
Asked whether the money he talked about would be used to pay last year’s dues, 2026 dues, or both, Walz said, “Generally, it will be used to pay off arrears and also to evaluate some of the reforms that we’ve seen.”
Under the Trump administration, the United States not only refuses to make mandatory payments to the UN’s regular and peacekeeping budgets, but also cuts voluntary funding to UN agencies through its own budget and moves to withdraw from UN agencies, including the World Health Organization.
Walz said the United States is very supportive of Guterres’ UN 80 reform efforts, and this is an important first step that needs to be continued.
“It’s not a complete accomplishment, but it’s an important step. It would have been better if the Secretary-General had achieved results in one or two years instead of in the ninth year of his term,” he said.
“We are very focused on getting back to the fundamentals of peace and security, and … the President is rightly asking, how do we get the United Nations back to its full potential?
“All of these conversations are happening now, they are being implemented, and we look forward to seeing further reforms,” Walz said.
“Tough love”
“This is tough love. The current model is unsustainable for many countries, and we are taking the United Nations back, bringing it back to focus, fit for purpose, and stopping trying to do everything for everyone.”
Mr Walz said reducing duplication was an important objective, noting, for example, that there are seven UN agencies whose primary mandate is climate change.
“We don’t need seven today, regardless of the climate change debate,” he said, adding that the United States also supports consolidating the logistics and administrative functions of humanitarian agencies.
“The United Nations bureaucracy has grown too large and needs to become more efficient and effective,” he said.
Guterres last year launched UN80 reforms aimed at cutting costs and improving efficiency. The approved 2026 regular budget is about $200 million more than his proposal, but about 7 percent lower than the approved 2025 budget.
He warned last month that the UN could run out of money by July, citing a “Kafkaesque” requirement to refund hundreds of millions of dollars in unused dues to countries each year, even if they do not receive the funds.
Mr Walz said member states should change this rule.
He said part of the backlog of U.S. peacekeeping missions was due to a “legal disconnect” between the UN valuation and what U.S. law allows them to pay, adding: “That will be resolved in the next round of valuation negotiations. I think it will be next year.”
