President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily suspending all US foreign assistance programs for 90 days pending reviews to determine whether they are aligned with his policy goals.
It was not immediately clear how much aid would be affected initially by Monday’s order, since Congress has already appropriated funds for many programs and it is required to be spent, if not already spent.
The order, among many others that Trump signed on his first day back in office, said that “the foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases are antithetical to American values” and “serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations within and between countries.”
Consequently, Trump declared that “no further US foreign aid will be disbursed in a manner that is not fully aligned with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his confirmation hearing last week that “every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified by the answer to three simple questions.” : Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?“, asked.
The order signed by Trump leaves it up to Rubio or his designee to make those decisions, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget. The State Department and the United States Agency for International Development are the main agencies that oversee foreign assistance.
Trump has been around for a long time criticizing foreign aideven though such assistance typically represents about 1% of the federal budget, except in unusual circumstances, such as the billions of dollars in weapons provided to Ukraine. Trump has criticized the amount sent to Ukraine to help bolster its defenses against the Russian invasion.
The last official count of foreign aid in the Biden administration dates back to mid-December and the 2023 budget year. It shows that they had committed 68 billion dollars for overseas programs ranging from disaster relief to health and pro-democracy initiatives in 204 countries and regions.
It is unlikely that some of the largest recipients of American assistance, Israel ($3.3 billion a year), Egypt ($1.5 billion a year), and Jordan ($1.7 billion a year) see drastic reductions, as those amounts are included in long-term packages dating back decades and in some cases governed by treaty obligations.
Republican governments have traditionally sought to cut or drastically reduce funding to U.N. agencies, including peacekeeping, human rights and refugee agencies. The first Trump administration took steps to reduce spending on foreign aid, suspending payments to several UN agencies, including the UN Population Fund, and funding to the Palestinian Authority.
However, the United States, under the Trump administration, had already retired from the UN Human Rights Councilwith its financial obligations, and has been prohibited from funding the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), according to a bill signed by former President Joe Biden last March.
(With information from AP)
