Trump administration issues threat along with its U.N. funding plan

The Trump administration appended a threat to its new — and severely scaled down — proposal to send humanitarian aid to the United Nations.

On Monday, the State Department announced a pledge to send $2 billion to the U.N. as part of what the department is referring to as a “humanitarian reset” after conservative members of Congress voted to codify drastic cuts to foreign aid at the behest of Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. This past summer, U.N. experts said they believe the Trump administration’s cuts to foreign aid have already led to 350,000 deaths — including more than 200,000 children — and predicted millions more could die due to the loss of funding.

But the reality-averse Trump administration is trying to sell the drawdown as a humanitarian victory.

Michael Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., was quoted as saying in a news release:“This humanitarian reset at the United Nations should deliver more aid with fewer tax dollars — providing more focused, results-driven assistance aligned with U.S foreign policy.” The news release concluded with: “Individual UN agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die.”

The Associated Press contextualized the steep drawdown:

The $2 billion is only a sliver of traditional U.S. humanitarian funding for U.N.-backed programs, which has run as high as $17 billion annually in recent years, according to U.N. data. U.S. officials say only $8-$10 billion of that has been in voluntary contributions. The United States also pays billions in annual dues related to its U.N. membership. …

Critics say the Western aid cutbacks have been shortsighted, driven millions toward hunger, displacement or disease, and harmed U.S. soft power around the world.

Earlier this year, as he was slashing the State Department’s foreign aid funding while at the helm of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Musk falsely accused the U.S. Agency for International Development — which distributes aid to the U.N. and other entities — of being a “criminal organization” and added: “Time for it to die.” While these DOGE efforts were portrayed as promoting “efficiency,” data has shown that federal spending actually increased while Musk and his minions were hacking away at federal programs.

So Trump’s administration may have effectively destroyed USAID and, in so doing, precipitated mass death around the world. But contrary to its claims, there’s absolutely no proof these cuts have saved Americans money or ever will. And there’s certainly nothing to prove that gutting foreign aid will cause the United Nations’ aid-supplying organizations to run more effectively.