US: We won't pay over 25 percent of UN peacekeeping anymore
The United States will no longer shoulder more than a quarter of the multibillion-dollar costs of the United Nations' peacekeeping operations, Washington's envoy said Wednesday.
"Peacekeeping is a shared responsibility," US Ambassador Nikki Haley said at a Security Council debate on peacekeeping reform. "All of us have a role to play, and all of us must step up."
The US is the biggest contributor to the UN's 15 peacekeeping missions worldwide. Washington is paying about 28.5 percent of this year's $7.3 billion peacekeeping budget, though Haley said US law is supposed to cap the contribution at 25 percent.
The second-biggest contributor, China, pays a bit over 10 percent.
President Donald Trump's administration has complained before that the budget and the US share are too high and pressed to cut to this year's budget. It is $570 million below last year's, a smaller decrease than Washington wanted.
"We're only getting started," Haley said when the cut was approved in June. It followed a $400 million trim the year before.
Haley said Wednesday the US will work to make sure cuts in its portion are done "in a fair and sensible manner that protects UN peacekeeping."
