Nikky Haley: Multilateralism and the Role of the United Nations

Year in and year out, the United States contributes 20 percent of the funding for the United Nations system. U.S. taxpayers in places like Oklahoma, Idaho, and Minnesota provide 25 percent of the $7 billion budget for the UN peacekeeping operations thousands of miles away in Kinshasa, Juba, Pristina, and elsewhere. These same taxpayers contribute more than 35 percent of the funding for the world’s largest multilateral humanitarian organization, the World Food Program. We contribute 13 percent of the funding that allows UNICEF to help children worldwide. U.S. taxpayers shoulder 42 percent of the burden of paying for the work of the UN Refugee Agency. The vast size of the financial support the United States gives the United Nations illustrates our seriousness with which we take this work and our commitment. But I will be honest with you: there are times when the American people question their generous support to the United Nations. There are times when we are tempted to believe that multilateralism has been a bad deal for the United States; that we could be more effective advancing our principles and interests on our own. And there are times when that conclusion is correct. It’s not that the American people are cheap. It’s not that we’re selfish. Quite the contrary. We are a blessed nation.