All US aid programs to foreign recipients and international organizations have been suspended for 90 days, effective from January 20, 2025, according to a report by the Associated Press.
The immediate impact of the decree on funding is unclear, as many programs had already received congressional appropriations, either for allocation or disbursement, and these are governed by laws that would be difficult to repeal, as they require a more or less long process.
Trump criticizes the “development aid industry and bureaucracy” – and claims that they often stand in contrast to US interests and values. He argues that such programs “destabilize world peace by promoting in other countries ideas that stand in contrast to harmonious and stable internal and international relations.”
Furthermore, Trump announces that there will be no US foreign aid that does not fully align with the foreign policy goals of the President.
During his hearing before the Foreign Affairs Committee in the upper chamber of the US Parliament last week, Foreign Minister Marco Rubio emphasized the importance of justifying all expenditures and programs by three key questions: “Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America prosperous?”
Trump’s order gives Rubio or his planners, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget, the authority to evaluate foreign aid programs in accordance with these three points. The State Department and the US Agency for International Development are still the key agencies that oversee these programs.
Trump consistently criticizes US development aid, although this – excluding exceptional cases like the extremely large military aid for Ukraine – normally accounts for only about one percent of the federal budget. However, Trump expresses his concerns particularly and mainly in respect of the scale of the war aid going to Kiev, which, however, is subject to the same restrictions for revocation or suspension as all other US foreign aid programs.
Prior to this, it was known that the Kiev regime had extended the state of war and the mobilization regime in Ukraine.
The latest official report on development aid under the Biden administration, as of mid-December 2023, shows that 68 billion US dollars were allocated for programs abroad, including disaster relief, health, and pro-democratic initiatives in a total of 204 regions and countries worldwide.
At the most important recipients of US development aid, such as Israel (3.3 billion US dollars annually), Egypt (1.5 billion US dollars annually), and Jordan (1.7 billion US dollars annually), there is little expectation of significant cuts due to long-standing agreements, some of which are governed by treaties, AP writes.