WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday suspending all U.S. foreign aid programs for 90 days pending a review to determine whether they meet his policy goals.
It’s unclear how much aid the order will initially affect, as many programs have been funded by Congress and obligated to be spent if they haven’t already been.
In many of the orders Trump signed on his first day in office, he said the “foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are inconsistent with American interests and in many cases contrary to American values” and “undermining world peace by promoting foreign ideas.” It is directly detrimental to harmonious and stable relations within and between countries.
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Therefore, Trump declared that “the United States shall not provide additional foreign aid in a manner that is not fully consistent 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 answered by answering three questions: A simple question to prove its rationality:
“Will it make America safer? Will it make America stronger? Will it make America more prosperous?” he said.
The order signed by Trump leaves it up to Rubio or his designee to make such decisions in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget. The U.S. State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development are the primary agencies overseeing foreign aid.
Trump has long opposed foreign aid, even though such aid typically accounts for about 1% of the federal budget unless there are special circumstances, such as billions in weapons to Ukraine. Trump has been critical of supplies being shipped to Ukraine to help bolster its defenses against a Russian invasion.
The Biden administration’s most recent official foreign aid accounting was conducted in mid-December and for the 2023 budget year.
Some of the largest recipients of U.S. aid, Israel ($3.3 billion per year), Egypt ($1.5 billion per year) and Jordan ($1.7 billion per year), are unlikely to see significant cuts because these amounts are included in long-term packages and their history Dating back decades and, in some cases, subject to treaty obligations.
Funding for U.N. agencies, including peacekeeping, human rights and refugee agencies, has been a traditional target of cuts or other cuts by Republican administrations. The first Trump administration moved to reduce foreign aid spending, suspending payments to several U.N. agencies, including the U.N. Population Fund, and suspending funding to the Palestinian Authority.
However, the United States under Trump has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council, imposed financial obligations, and is barred from funding the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) under a bill signed by former President Joe Biden last year.
