{"id":315912,"date":"2026-05-11T12:00:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T11:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=315912"},"modified":"2026-05-08T08:28:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T07:28:47","slug":"un-chief-says-us-unpaid-dues-worth-billions-are-non-negotiable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2026\/05\/un-chief-says-us-unpaid-dues-worth-billions-are-non-negotiable\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Chief Says US Unpaid Dues Worth Billions Are ‘Non-Negotiable’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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2 May 2026 – <\/em>Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has affirmed\u00a0that the billions of dollars\u00a0that\u00a0the U.S. owes to\u00a0the international body are \u201cnon-negotiable.\u201d<\/p>\n

He clarified that the outstanding amount, known as \u201cassessed contributions,\u201d is a mandatory obligation of member nations and cannot be negotiated, Reuters reported on Thursday [30 Apr].<\/p>\n

While Guterres continues to lead reform initiatives at the UN, especially under the scrutiny of the U.S, he assured that the organization would strive to be as effective, cost-efficient, and capable of delivering for the people it serves.<\/p>\n

However, he stressed that non-payment of the dues and reforms are two distinct issues.<\/p>\n

Earlier in January, Guterres had cautioned about a potential \u201cfinancial collapse\u201d of the UN due to unpaid dues, a significant portion of which is\u00a0owed by the U.S.\u00a0In February, the UN revealed that\u00a0America had paid\u00a0approximately $160 million of the over $4 billion it owes to the global body.<\/p>\n

White House did not immediately respond to Benzinga<\/a>\u2018s request for comments.<\/p>\n

Trump Ties UN Funds To Reforms Push<\/h2>\n

He made these remarks in response to inquiries about the report <\/a>in Devex, earlier this week, that the U.S. circulated two diplomatic notes calling for nine \u201cquick-hit\u201d reforms as a prerequisite for releasing additional funds. These proposed reforms include further cost-cutting measures and initiatives to counter China\u2019s influence at the United Nations.<\/p>\n

The cost-cutting measures demanded by the U.S. involve overhauling the U.N. pension system, discontinuing long-distance business-class travel for certain senior and all mid-level professionals, further reductions to senior U.N. ranks, and a 10% cut in long-standing and ineffective peacekeeping missions.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Trump issued a memo ordering the U.S. to withdraw from dozens of international bodies deemed against national interests, targeting 35 non-UN groups and 31 United Nations agencies. The move follows a 2025 executive order mandating a review of global commitments to identify those misaligned with U.S. priorities. It said withdrawing from the UN involves stopping participation in its bodies and ending financial contributions.<\/p>\n

Last month, Trump also mulled withdrawing<\/a> from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) amid the alliance’s noncooperation with the U.S. in the war with Iran. However, it is legally not possible without Congressional approval.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer<\/em>:<\/strong> This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Go to Original – newsbreak.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2 May 2026 – Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the UN, has affirmed\u00a0that the billions of dollars\u00a0that\u00a0the U.S. owes to\u00a0the international body are \u201cnon-negotiable.\u201d He clarified that the outstanding amount, known as \u201cassessed contributions,\u201d is a mandatory obligation of member nations and cannot be negotiated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":246490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[1036,563,124,70],"class_list":["post-315912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations","tag-antonio-guterres","tag-debt","tag-united-nations","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315912"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":315918,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315912\/revisions\/315918"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}