UNITED NATIONS — The Trump administration reports securing over $1 billion in cuts to U.N. budgets over the past six months, signaling significant progress toward institutional reform.
The latest achievement came June 30, with all 193 U.N. member states approving a peacekeeping budget of approximately $5.1 billion for the upcoming fiscal year—about $550 million, or 9.7%, below the previous year’s allocation.
Combined with a 15% reduction to the U.N.’s regular budget approved in December, U.S. officials estimate the total reductions exceed $1 billion in assessed contributions, marking an unprecedented level of fiscal restraint.
U.S. Representative for U.N. Ambassador Jeff Bartos addresses a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Libya, at the U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., November 25, 2025. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)
Assessed budgets are funded through mandatory contributions tied to member states’ economic sizes.
“On June 30th, with U.S. leadership, all 193 countries came together again for the second time in six months,” Ambassador Bartos told Fox News Digital. “We’ve achieved over a billion dollars of savings in six months, which is unprecedented. The totality of the reforms is monumental.”
The agreement arrives as the U.N. prepares for a leadership transition in 2027, with Secretary-General António Guterres set to conclude his second term. Simultaneously, the Trump administration continues prioritizing reforms, arguing the organization has grown overly bureaucratic and inefficient.
U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric confirmed the peacekeeping budget reduction of roughly $550 million and a 15% cut to the regular budget as “unprecedented reductions.”
A Cameroonian United Nations peacekeeping soldier guards women fleeing the village of Zike as they arrive to the village of Bambara, Central African Republic, April 25, 2017. Picture taken April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Baz Ratner TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY – RTS143AS
Bartos attributes the reforms to sustained U.S. pressure and months of negotiations by the U.S. Mission.
“The new budget, this reformed budget, the enhanced efficiency changes the culture of how the U.N. looks at peacekeeping,” Bartos said. “Every dollar has to achieve impact on the ground.”
He highlighted the U.N. Mission in South Sudan as an example where the U.S. worked to streamline operations and align budget reductions with modified mandates.
Another reform targets unused budget credits. Previously, U.N. rules required returning unspent funds to member states even when contributions had not been paid, exacerbating liquidity shortages. On June 30, the General Assembly approved a four-year trial allowing returns only when backed by actual cash reserves, potentially saving over $1 billion annually.
This measure, though welcomed by the U.N., aligns with longstanding Secretary-General Guterres’ priorities. He called the prior system a “Kafkaesque cycle” and described the new rule as a necessary correction.
President Donald Trump (L) meets with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres during the 80th session of the UN’s General Assembly (UNGA) at the United Nations headquarters on September 23, 2025 in New York City. World leaders convened for the 80th Session of UNGA, with this year’s theme being “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.” (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Another priority involves overhauling staff compensation, benefits, and the U.N. pension system, which Bartos claims consume resources better allocated to humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts.
“We’re going to continue to see us push whether it’s on benefits, whether it’s on staff compensation, whether it’s on the pension system,” Bartos said. “There’s massive numbers of additional reforms that our team is working on right now.”
United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicles drive along the main road leading to Lebanon’s southern town of Naqura close to the border with Israel on October 27, 2022. – Israel and Lebanon separately signed a US-brokered maritime border deal which paves the way for lucrative offshore gas extraction by the neighbours that remain technically at war. The exchange of letters is due to take place in the southern Lebanese town of Naqura, in the presence of US mediator Amos Hochstein and the United Nations’s special coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka. ( Photo by Mahmoud Zayyat/ AFP/Getty Images)
Bartos emphasized that reform momentum will persist during the 2027 selection of the next secretary-general.
“We’re going to select the next secretary-general,” Bartos said. “That reform momentum that has been growing over the last 15, 18 months … you’ll see that continuing in 2027 with the new secretary-general.”
