US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday temporarily suspending all US international aid programs for 90 days pending a review of whether they are consistent with his policy goals.
It is not yet clear how this decision will affect current US aid programs, as funding for many programs has already been approved by the US Congress and must be spent if it has not already been spent.
But the order, signed among many others by Trump on his first day in office, states: “The international aid industry and bureaucracy are at odds with American interests and, in many cases, are at odds with American values.”
It goes on to say that this aid “serves to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas abroad that are directly contrary to harmonious and stable relationships within and between countries.”
Trump then announced that “the United States will no longer distribute international aid in a manner that is not fully consistent with the foreign policy of the President of the United States.”
Last week, new U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified by simple answers to three questions.”
“Does it make America safer? Does it make America more powerful? Does it make America richer?” he said.
The order signed by Trump leaves it up to Rubio or his appointee, in consultation with the Office of Management and Budget, to determine whether the aid is consistent with policy.
The State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Assistance are the main agencies that oversee international aid.
Trump has long criticized international aid, even though it typically accounts for about one percent of the federal budget, except in exceptional cases such as the billions of dollars in arms sales to Ukraine.
Trump criticized the amount sent to Ukraine to bolster its defenses against a Russian invasion.
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