US pays $160 million of more than $4 billion owed to UN

By Kanishka Singh and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The United States has paid about $160 million of the more than $4 billion it owes to the U.N., a United Nations spokesperson said on Thursday as President Donald Trump hosted the first meeting of his "Board of Peace" initiative that experts say could undermine the United Nations.

"Last week, we received about $160 million from the United States as a partial payment of its past dues for the U.N. regular budget," the U.N. spokesperson said in a statement.

Trump said during his comments at the opening "Board of Peace" meeting that Washington would give the United Nations money to strengthen it.

The U.S. is the biggest contributor to the U.N. budget, but under the Trump administration it has refused to make mandatory payments to regular and peacekeeping budgets, and slashed voluntary funding to U.N. agencies with their own budgets.

Washington has withdrawn from dozens of U.N. agencies.

U.N. officials say the U.S. owed $2.19 billion to the regular U.N. budget as of the start of February, more than 95% of the total owed by countries globally. The U.S. also owes another $2.4 billion for current and past peacekeeping missions and $43.6 million for U.N. tribunals.

"We're going to help them (U.N.) money-wise, and we're going to make sure the United Nations is viable," Trump said.

"I think the United Nations has great potential, really great potential. It has not lived up to (that) potential."

Countries, including major powers of the Global South and key U.S. allies in the West, have been reluctant to join Trump's "Board of Peace" where Trump himself is the chair. Many experts have said such an initiative undermines the United Nations.

Trump launched the board last month and proposed it late last year as part of his plan to end Israel's war in Gaza.

A U.N. Security Council resolution recognized the board late last year through 2027, limiting its scope to Gaza, the Palestinian territory it was meant to oversee following Israel's devastating more than two‑year assault. Under Trump's plan to end Israel's war in Gaza, the board was meant to oversee Gaza's temporary governance. Trump subsequently said the board will tackle global conflicts and look beyond Gaza as well.

U.N. experts say that Trump's oversight of a board to supervise a foreign territory's affairs resembles a colonial structure and criticized the board for not having Palestinian representation. There was no U.N. representative at the "Board of Peace" meeting on Thursday.