The United Nations, anticipating that President Trump will slash U.S. contributions to the worldwide physique, has informed its departments to attract up plans for funds cuts, together with by means of workers relocations from New York and Geneva to less-expensive cities.
The directions — outlined in a two-page memo dated April 25 that was reviewed by The New York Occasions — have been despatched from Secretary Common António Guterres’s workplace to the heads of all companies that report on to him. The memo set a Could 15 deadline for all proposals in order that they may very well be added to the 2026 funds.
“Your goal is to determine as many capabilities as attainable that may very well be relocated to current lower-cost places,” the memo reads, “or in any other case lowered or abolished if they’re duplicative or not viable.”
In February, President Trump signed an govt order calling for a evaluate of the general U.S. funding and ties to the U.N. He withdrew the US from a number of U.N. organizations, together with these coping with human rights, ladies’s reproductive rights, local weather change, Palestinian help and world well being. In his first time period, he additionally lowered U.S. contributions to peacekeeping efforts.
Three senior U.N. officers mentioned on Tuesday that the drastic, cost-cutting measures specified by the memo had caught the company’s departments abruptly and went past what they’d anticipated. The officers, who requested anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to talk publicly, mentioned the directive was largely considered as a means for the U.N. to brace for potential extra cuts by Mr. Trump and to proactively insulate it from the monetary blow.
However the U.N. officers mentioned the funds cuts have been ordered solely partly in response to Mr. Trump’s strikes. The directive comes because the U.N. is adjusting to a number of economic issues, they mentioned, from the withdrawal and discount in monetary contributions by main donors like the US and Europe to a cash-flow disaster brought on by member states’ not paying their annual dues on time and in full.
Mr. Guterres introduced on March 12 that he was launching an initiative referred to as UN80 — named for the group’s eightieth anniversary — to create cost-effective measures and enhance effectivity throughout the group.
“These are occasions of intense uncertainty and unpredictability,” Mr. Guterres mentioned on the time. “Sources are shrinking throughout the board — and so they have been for a very long time.”
He additionally mentioned {that a} discount in funding from the US and different nations had “naturally led to the necessity by the companies that ship these companies to scale back workers, to shrink their dimension and to remove many actions.”
Stéphane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesman, mentioned the April 25 memo had resulted from the UN80 initiative.
Richard Gowan, the U.N. director for the Worldwide Disaster Group, mentioned that whereas the U.N. was portraying the strikes as an inside overhaul, in actuality, they’d resulted from strain by and nervousness in regards to the Trump administration.
“The U.S. cuts, the vary of the cuts and scale of the cuts have actually shocked the U.N.,” Mr. Gowan mentioned in an interview. “So Guterres is now frankly racing to meet up with a really unhealthy state of affairs.”
The USA is the biggest contributor to the U.N., accounting for practically 25 % of its general funds, which in 2024 amounted to about $3.6 billion and went towards administrative and peacekeeping wants. America can also be a serious donor to numerous U.N. companies for humanitarian reduction work; in 2022, the US contributed about $18 billion to the U.N. throughout the board.
Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden even have introduced deep cuts in worldwide help, together with to the U.N., with a purpose to give attention to home wants and protection priorities. China, a serious contributor to the U.N., has historically stepped up funding towards packages that align with its personal pursuits, like peacekeeping.
Now, the U.N. estimates it will face a 20 % funds discount for 2026 on account of funding cuts, in response to Mr. Gowan, which might quantity to billions of {dollars} in losses.
Some companies, together with UNICEF and the Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, mentioned they’d already begun cost-cutting evaluations separate from the Guterres directive.
A senior official at UNICEF mentioned the company was anticipating at the least a 20 % funds lower for 2026. UNICEF can also be contemplating relocating a large portion of its workers to Valencia, Spain, from New York, the senior official mentioned. The aim, he added, was to make sure any funds shortfall would have as little impact as attainable on packages that serve kids.
UNICEF is funded by means of donations from member states, the personal sector and people. It doesn’t obtain cash from the U.N.’s general funds.
Even earlier than the memo was despatched, Mr. Guterres mentioned final month that the U.N.’s Inhabitants Fund, which focuses on ladies’s well being and reproductive rights, would transfer its complete operation to Nairobi, Kenya, from New York.
Tom Fletcher, the U.N.’s high humanitarian chief, additionally introduced to workers this month that the company was scaling again its operations in a number of nations;, sustaining a hiring freeze and journey restrictions; and lowering workers by 20 %.