President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday 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 assistance would initially be affected by the order as funding for many programs has already been appropriated by US Congress and is obligated to be spent if not already spent.
The order was among many Mr Trump signed on his first day back in the office, said the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values” and “serve to destabilise world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”
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 with the answer to three simple questions:
“Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?” he said.
The order signed by Mr Trump leaves it up to Mr Rubio or his designee to make such determinations, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget. The State Department and the US Agency for International Development are the main agencies that oversee foreign assistance.
Mr Trump has long railed against foreign aid even though such assistance typically amounts to roughly 1% of the federal budget, except under unusual circumstances such as the billions in weaponry provided to Ukraine. Mr Trump has been critical of the amount shipped to Ukraine to help bolster its defences against Russia’s invasion.
The last official accounting of foreign aid in the Biden administration dates from mid-December and budget year 2023.
It shows that 68 billion dollars (£55 billion) had been obligated for programs abroad that range from disaster relief to health and pro-democracy initiatives in 204 countries and regions.
Some of the biggest recipients of US assistance are Israel (3.3 billion dollars per year, or £2.6 billion), Egypt (1.5 billion dollars per year, or £1.2 billion) and Jordan (1.7 billion dollars per year or £1.3 billion) are unlikely to see dramatic reductions, as those amounts are included in long-term packages that date back decades and are in some cases governed by treaty obligations.
Funding for UN agencies, including peacekeeping, human rights and refugee agencies, have been traditional targets for Republican administrations to slash or otherwise cut.
The first Trump administration moved to reduce foreign aid spending, suspending payments to various UN agencies, including the UN Population Fund, and funding to the Palestinian Authority.
However, the US previously under Mr Trump had already pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council, with its financial obligations, and has been barred from funding the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA, by a bill signed by former president Joe Biden last March.
