US issues pause on foreign aid, leaked memo says

The US State Department issued a cessation of all existing foreign assistance and stopped new help, according to an internal memorandum sent to US officials and embassies abroad.

The leaked notification of President Trump’s executive order issued on Monday follows a 90 -day stand in helping foreign development pending a review of efficiency and consistency with his foreign policy.

The United States is the largest donor of international aid in the world spending $ 68 billion in 2023 According to government numbers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’s notification appears to affect everything from development assistance to military aid.

It makes exceptions only for food aid in emergency situations and military financing for Israel and Egypt. The contents of the note that were leaked by the BBC.

The memo tells the employees: “The new funds will not be binding on new awards or accessories from the current awards until every new prize or extension is reviewed and extension.”

He adds that US officials “must immediately issue stopping orders, in line with the conditions of the relevant prize, in order to determine the time of the Secretary, after the review.”

He also orders a wide review of all external aid that will be completed within 85 days to ensure that aid is attached to President Trump’s foreign goals.

Foreign Minister Marco Rubio – the best diplomat of the United States – previously stated that all the United States it spends abroad should take place only if America makes “stronger”, “safer” or “more prosperous”.

A senior official of the former Foreign Ministry told the BBC that the notice means “huge” impact on the US -funded foreign aid programs.

“One can imagine, for example, human mining removal programs around the world are suddenly informed by stopping work. This is a very big problem,” said Josh Paul, who supervised the congressional relations about the transfer of weapons in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until late 2023. .

Dave Harden, director of the previous US Agency for International Aid (USA International Development Agency) in the Middle East, told the BBC that the move is “very important”, saying that it may see the humanitarian and developmental programs funded by the United States worldwide, immediately hanging, Immediately, while the review is done.

He said it may affect a wide range of critical development projects, including water, sanitation and shelter.

Executive partner employees or [non-governmental organisation] “It will be possible to pay, but the actual assistance, I think, should stop,” said Mr. Harden.

“I passed [assistance suspensions] Often when you were the director of the West Bank mission and the Gaza mission, but that was for this account. This is universal … it’s very wide. “

He added: “It is not only a stop to stop, but it puts a” stop “in the current contracts that have already been funded and its neighbor. It is very broad.”

News Agency told Agence France -Presse that the freezing of financing could also affect Ukraine, which received billions of dollars in weapons during the era of Trump Joe Biden.

The Rubio notes, which justifies the freezing, said it was impossible for the new administration to evaluate whether the current foreign aid obligations were “uncomfortable, effective and compatible with President Trump’s foreign policy.”

Rubio issued a waiver of emergency assistance, according to the memo.

This comes amid an increase in humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip after the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and several other crises for hunger all over the world, including Sudan.

The memorandum also said that the concessions were approved so far by Rubio because of “foreign military financing for Israel, Egypt and administrative expenses, including salaries, necessary for the foreign military financing management.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was contacted to comment.