'We’re waiting': Trump hit with ultimatum after billions in debt goes unpaid

The United Nations issued the Trump administration yet another reminder Monday about its nearly $4 billion in unpaid contributions, an obligation that if not met could spark the “imminent financial collapse” of the international body that has led the global rules-based order since the end of the Second World War.

“We’re waiting to see exactly when payments will be made and in what amount,” said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, speaking with reporters on Monday, Politico reported Tuesday.

A UN official told Politico that the United States owes the international body nearly $2.2 billion towards its regular operating budget and $1.8 billion for the U.N.’s peacekeeping operations. The United States did not make a single payment to the U.N. in 2025.

Dujarric said that U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres has been in recent contact with U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz, with Waltz signifying that the Trump administration would, in fact, make a “significant down payment” on its owed dues “in a matter of weeks,” Politico reported. How much the Trump administration plans to pay towards its nearly $4 billion in unpaid contributions, however, remains unknown.

Should the United States fall two years behind in its payment obligations to the U.N., it could lose the right to vote per Article 19 of the U.N. Charter.

The amount member countries pay the U.N. is determined by its gross national incomes and income per capita, with the United States historically paying the most into the international body, followed by China.

President Donald Trump, however, has broken with historical precedent in withdrawing the United States from multiple UN
organizations and pulling funding from dozens of other U.N. organizations. He’s also openly criticized the international body, accusing it of perpetuating a “con job” with its efforts to combat climate change and being ineffective at resolving international conflicts.“All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up,” Trump said last year in his address to the U.N. General Assembly.