By Teddy Nwanunobi
US President, Donald Trump, has announced a 15 per cent reduction in the United Nations budget, as well as eliminated 4,000 positions.
Trump, who disclosed this while addressing the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, also urged all member states to quit the International Criminal Court (ICC).
He said that Washington worked with other countries to push through what he described as the “most sweeping UN reforms in history”, as the United States helped cut the UN budget by 15 per cent in 2026, resulting in the elimination of more than 4,000 positions.
“We cut the UN budget for the first time ever, slashing it by 15% in 2026, which eliminated more than 4,000 positions from the UN bureaucracy,” Trump said.
The UN has indeed been pursuing major cost reductions under its UN80 reform initiative. In its revised estimates for 2026, the organisation proposed reducing resource requirements by $577 million, or 15.1 per cent, compared with the 2025 appropriation, while reducing the approved staffing table by 2,681 posts.
Trump said the UN still had “great potential”, but argued that it needed to abandon what he described as the “far-left agenda of globalist bureaucrats who nobody ever elected”.
The US President also criticised the International Criminal Court (ICC), describing it as an “out-of-control, criminal institution” and a “rogue institution”.
“We will never allow US service members or anyone else to be investigated or given show trials by an anti-American tribunal with no jurisdiction over us,” Trump said, while urging ICC member states to leave the court.
“The United States is equally opposed to the out-of-control institution known as the International Criminal Court. I call on all nations that are members of the ICC to officially resign from this rogue institution immediately,” he added.
Trump further used his address to reject international taxation, saying he had stopped what he described as an attempt by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to establish the first global carbon tax.
“There is no global government, and while I’m president, there will be no global taxes,” he said.
His remarks came as the UN’s 81st General Assembly opened against a backdrop of financial pressure, wars and growing debate over the future of multilateral institutions. The UN’s own reform programme includes efforts to streamline operations, consolidate administrative functions and improve efficiency.
The United States remains the largest financial contributor to the UN despite the administration’s cuts and disputes over payments. Washington paid $725 million to the organisation in September, including funds for the regular budget and peacekeeping, but still owed more than $1.3 billion to the regular UN budget, according to Reuters.
Trump’s speech therefore put US demands for a smaller and more nationally accountable international system at the centre of his address, while the UN continues its own reform process under the theme of ‘Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all.’