> "freeloading and relying on the U.S. to protect them from everything?" The US famously has routinely run a billion-dollar deficit in its dues to the UN since

> "freeloading and relying on the U.S. to protect them from everything?" The US famously has routinely run a billion-dollar deficit in its dues to the UN since the late 1980s through the early 2000s [0][1][2], and then again when Trump suspended paying dues 2016-2020 and owed $2b [3]. In the 1990s, CNN ex-owner Ted Turner even donated part of the dues. US commitment to multilateralism is pretty transactional. (The standoff was not completely resolved by the Helms-Biden Act/"United Nations Reform Act of 1999"), which linked payment of $926 million arrears to a series of reform benchmarks). [0]: U.S. Department of State: 97/11/28 Fact Sheet: U.S. Arrears to the UN https://1997-2001.state.gov/issues/fs_us_arrears_un_0997.html https://1997-2001.state.gov/issues/fs_us_arrears_un_0997.htm... [1]: United States and the United Nations - Arrears https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_United_Nations#Arrears https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_United_N... [2]: NYT, 1988 "THE WORLD; Why Does the United States Refuse to Pay Its U.N. Bill?" https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/07/weekinreview/the-world-why-does-the-united-states-refuse-to-pay-its-un-bill.html https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/07/weekinreview/the-world-wh... [3]: https://www.devex.com/news/with-the-us-still-owing-nearly-2b-un-looks-at-how-to-fund-2021-98866 https://www.devex.com/news/with-the-us-still-owing-nearly-2b...