President Trump on Tuesday spoke about America’s generosity during his speech at the UN General Assembly, but warned that the gravy train might be halted for any nations receiving foreign aid that are hostile to the US.
“The United States is the world’s largest giver in the world, by far, of foreign aid. But few give anything to us. That is why we are taking a hard look at US foreign assistance,” he said.
“Moving forward, we are only going to give foreign aid to those who respect us and, frankly, are our friends. And we expect other countries to pay their fair share for the cost of their defense.”
And he repeated an earlier backhanded compliment that the UN had “unlimited potential” but that member nations needed to pull their weight.
“The United States is committed to making the United Nations more effective and accountable. As part of our reform effort, I have told our negotiators that the United States will not pay more than 25 percent of the UN peacekeeping budget,” he said.
The US is the largest single funder of the UN, providing 22 percent of its entire budget and 28.6 percent of its peacekeeping budget in the fiscal year that ended in June 2017.
“Only when each of us does our part and contributes our share can we realize the UN’s highest aspirations,” Trump said. “We must pursue peace without fear, hope without despair, and security without apology.”
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