The United States Government and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) signed an agreement this Monday through which the Donald Trump Administration will contribute $2 billion to United Nations emergency assistance programs in 2026.
The memorandum of understanding that includes this contribution, after a year of drastic US cuts to humanitarian cooperation, was signed at the Washington Mission to the UN in Geneva by the US Undersecretary of Humanitarian Affairs, Jeremy Lewin, and the United Nations humanitarian coordinator, Tom Fletcher.
The UN, through OCHA, asked its global partners for $23 billion to address humanitarian emergencies in 2026, a figure considerably lower than in 2025, when it requested $47 billion but only received approximately 30% of this amount, due to cuts in contributions from partners such as the United States.
“This is a historic agreement. Beyond the numbers, what is truly important is that millions of lives will be saved in 17 countries,” the UN humanitarian chief highlighted before the signing, who thanked President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for “their leadership and contribution.”
The British diplomat stressed that the long-awaited US contribution comes after an “extremely hard year for all those involved in humanitarian action” and will serve to support its 2026 plan, with which OCHA wants to reach 87 million people in crisis around the world.
Are you interested in: Trump Administration Moves Quickly to End Humanitarian Parole Programs
New US-UN agreement ‘will benefit humanitarian assistance’
Undersecretary Lewin added that the United States and the United Nations are working together to reform the humanitarian system and make it “smaller and more efficient.”
“When Trump became president, he found himself with a humanitarian system that had grown beyond its possibilities and was unsustainable, which not only the United States but also other donors could no longer maintain and was inefficient,” he said.
The agreement, he added, represents progress towards the future of the UN, in which the organization must “eliminate duplications, cut unnecessary structures, gain efficiency, speed and flexibility, and be better prepared to respond to the humanitarian challenges of the 21st century.”
Fletcher admitted that the United Nations is prioritizing its efficiency as much as possible, eliminating duplication and bureaucracy, and acknowledged that American taxpayers “expect accountability for every dollar spent, and the program includes mechanisms to ensure that every dollar saves lives.”
Lewin added that the agreement marks “just the beginning” of the new formula for cooperation between the United States and the United Nations.
He assured that the way in which North American aid reaches the humanitarian system will be “twice more efficient” than before Trump took office, although in practice the amount could be less, since he recognized that previously the North American allocation for these cooperation programs exceeded 10 billion dollars.
With information from EFE
Follow us on Google News to always stay informed
