JAKARTA - The United States on Monday pledged $2 billion in aid to save the lives of tens of millions of people facing famine and disease in more than a dozen countries next year, the State Department said in a statement, following a massive cut in foreign aid by the Trump administration in 2025.
The United States has cut its aid spending this year, while leading Western donors such as Germany have also reduced assistance as they shift to increased defense spending, triggering a severe funding crisis for the United Nations.
The billions of dollars in aid pledged by the United States on Monday will be overseen by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the State Department said, as reported by Al Arabiya from Reuters (30/12).
The State Department described the aid as a new model agreed with the UN that aims to make funding and aid delivery more efficient.
UN data shows that total US humanitarian contributions to the UN fell to about $3.38 billion in 2025, equivalent to about 14.8 percent of the global total.
This figure fell sharply from 14.1 billion US dollars in the previous year, and peaked at 17.2 billion US dollars in 2022.
In early December, the United Nations launched a 2026 appeal for $23 billion to reach 87 million people at risk - half of the $47 billion requested for 2025, reflecting a decline in donor support despite global needs reaching a record high.
UN aid chief Tom Fletcher said the UN's humanitarian response was overwhelmed and underfunded, meaning "brutal choices" had to be made to prioritize those most in need.
Fletcher said in a statement on Monday that the US pledge was a "vital investment in humanity," adding it was a form of confidence in the UN's humanitarian reforms.
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