US won't fund more than 25 per cent of UN peacekeeping budget: Nikki Haley

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 today.

"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 U.S. is the biggest contributor to the UN's 15 peacekeeping missions worldwide. Washington is paying about 28.5 per cent of this year's USD 7.3 billion peacekeeping budget, though Haley said US law is supposed to cap the contribution at 25 per cent.

The second-biggest contributor, China, pays a bit over 10 per cent.

President Donald Trump's administration has complained before that the budget and the U.S. share are too high and pressed to cut to this year's budget. It is USD 570 million below last year's, a smaller decrease than Washington wanted.