“Among a host of other successes, the United States negotiated a reduction of over $285 million off the 2016-2017 final budget,” a statement from the the United States Mission to the UN said. “In addition to these significant cost savings, we reduced the UN’s bloated management and support functions, bolstered support for key US priorities throughout the world, and instilled more discipline and accountability throughout the UN system.”

Included in the press release was a statement from US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who said that the “generosity of the American people [will no longer] be taken advantage of or remain unchecked.”

“This historic reduction in spending — in addition to many other moves toward a more efficient and accountable UN — is a big step in the right direction,” Haley added.

But the decision to cut spending by an estimated 5 percent isn’t exactly something to cheer about, says Daoud Kuttab, an award-winning Palestinian journalist.

​Speaking to Radio Sputnik’s Loud & Clear, the journalist suggested that the cuts are a step in the wrong direction.

“The Trump administration has been losing its clout and its ability to really engage with the rest of the world and, as a result, they are going to find themselves much weaker in trying to gain any leverage when they really need it,” Kuttab said. “Whether it’s in the UN or whether it’s in other areas, I think Trump’s ‘America First’ policy seems to be working for him… but it’s going to make America much weaker in the international arena.”

© AP Photo/ Seth Wenig

‘Big Step in Right Direction’: US Envoy to UN Pleased With Efficient Budget Cuts

“Other countries are going to be stepping up and picking up the pieces where Americans used to fill the stage,” he added.The decision could even trigger economic repercussions, Kuttab warned.

“[The US is] going to lose leverage, they will not be able to negotiate things that the Obama administration… and previous administrations were able to do… it’s going to come back and bite them,” Kuttab told show hosts Brian Becker and John Kiriakou. “They are not only losing political weight, [because] in the end if you lose political weight internationally, you’re going to lose economic weight. Americans are in for a big surprise.”

Though the official numbers have yet to be announced, a UN spokesperson told NPR Tuesday that the total budget for 2018-2019 was roughly $5.396 billion.