The U.S. announced Dec. 29 that it will pledge $2 billion for United Nations (UN) humanitarian programs, a reduced level of funding compared with recent years, as the Trump administration continues to reduce overall U.S. foreign assistance while pressing for reforms within the UN aid system.
The announcement was made in Geneva, where the U.S. Department of State and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) signed a memorandum of understanding outlining a new framework for U.S. funding of UN humanitarian assistance, according to a state department release.
In the release, officials said individual agencies would need to “adapt, shrink, or die” under the new framework, which makes future funding contingent on reducing bureaucratic overlap, limiting what the department described as “ideological creep,” and strengthening accountability and oversight mechanisms.
The $2 billion pledge represents a relatively small share of past U.S. humanitarian funding for U.N.-coordinated programs, which has reached as much as $17 billion annually in recent years, according to U.N. data cited by the Associated Press. U.S. officials say only $8 billion to $10 billion of that total typically consisted of voluntary contributions, with the remainder tied to mandatory U.N. dues.
“This new model will better share the burden of U.N. humanitarian work with other developed countries and will require the U.N. to cut bloat, remove duplication, and commit to powerful new impact, accountability and oversight mechanisms,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement posted on social media.
Under the plan, the money will be channeled into a centralized umbrella or pooled fund managed by the OCHA, rather than distributed through separate, scattered contributions or appeals to individual agencies, according to AP News.
U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said the funding would still have a meaningful impact despite the reduction. Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Fletcher told AP News that he would have expected U.S. funding to fall further absent the agreement.
According to the state department, the agreement is part of what it described as a broader “humanitarian reset” aimed at prioritizing life-saving assistance and improving efficiency. The department said the new structure is expected to fund humanitarian operations in dozens of countries and deliver aid to tens of millions of people in 2026, while reducing administrative costs.
The initial funding will target 17 countries, including Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Syria and Ukraine. AP News reported that Afghanistan and Yemen are not included, as U.S. officials have cited concerns about aid diversion.
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