Trump reduces humanitarian aid, tells UN agencies to ‘adapt, shrink or die’

The United States announced a $ 2 billion pledge for UN humanitarian aid as President Donald Trump's administration slashes US foreign assistance and warns United Nations agencies they must “adapt, shrink or die” in a time of new financial realities.

The money is a small fraction of what the US has contributed in the past but reflects what the administration believes is still a generous amount that will maintain America's status as the world's largest humanitarian donor.

“This new model will better share the burden of UN humanitarian work with other developed countries and will require the UN to cut bloat, remove duplication, and commit to powerful new impact, accountability and oversight mechanisms,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on social media.

The pledge creates an umbrella fund from which money will be doled out to agencies and priorities, a key part of US demands for drastic changes across the UN that have alarmed many humanitarian workers and led to severe reductions in programs and services.

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

“The piggy bank is not open to organizations that just want to return to the old system," Jeremy Lewin, the State Department official in charge of foreign assistance, said at a press conference in Geneva. "President Trump has made clear that the system is dead.”

The State Department said “individual UN agencies will need to adapt, shrink, or die.” Critics say the Western aid cutbacks have been shortsighted, driven millions toward hunger, displacement or disease, and harmed US soft power around the world.

A year of crisis in aid

The move caps a crisis year for many UN organizations, including its refugee, migration and food aid agencies. The Trump administration has already cut billions in US foreign aid, prompting the agencies to slash spending, aid projects and thousands of jobs.

Other traditional Western donors have reduced outlays, too. The US pledge for aid programs of the United Nations — the world's top provider of humanitarian assistance and biggest recipient of US humanitarian aid money — takes shape in a preliminary deal with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, run by Tom Fletcher, a former British diplomat and government official.

Fletcher, who has spent the past year lobbying US officials not to abandon UN funding altogether, appeared optimistic at the deal's signing in Geneva. “It's a very, very significant landmark contribution. And a month ago, I would have anticipated the number would have been zero,” he said.