US pledges new humanitarian aid to UN, says it must align with Trump's interests

The State Department's top aid official said on Thursday that $1.8 billion in new humanitarian aid to be provided by the U.S. through the United Nations would be used in line with the Trump administration's foreign policy interests.



The new funding pledge came on top of $2 billion in funding the U.S. announced in December under a new mechanism designed to make aid funding and delivery more efficient and increase accountability as the U.S. and other developed nations have slashed aid spending.



Jeremy Lewin, a former staffer of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency who has been performing the duties of undersecretary for foreign assistance, humanitarian affairs and religious freedom, said that 92% of the U.S. assistance provided through the mechanism had gone to "hyper-prioritized" countries, which the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has determined are the most in need.