US Foreign Aid Cuts Aim to Align with ‘America First’ Priorities
US Cuts Foreign Aid Budgets by 92% Under ‘America First’ Agenda. The United States has significantly reduced its overseas development and aid budgets, slashing multi-year contracts by 92%, or $54 billion, the State Department announced on Wednesday.
Following his inauguration on January 20, President Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing all US foreign aid for 90 days to review spending in alignment with his “America First” agenda. The review primarily targeted multi-year foreign assistance contracts administered by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), with the majority of these contracts being eliminated.
The review process, led by USAID leadership and reviewed by Secretary Marco Rubio, identified nearly 5,800 awards, valued at $54 billion, for elimination, representing a 92% reduction. Additionally, over 9,100 grants, valued at more than $15.9 billion, were scrutinized. Of these, 4,100 grants worth nearly $4.4 billion were targeted for elimination, a 28% reduction.
A State Department spokesperson emphasized that these cuts would allow the remaining programmes to be more efficient and aligned with the administration’s priorities. However, some vital programs, including food assistance, medical treatments for diseases like HIV and malaria, and support for countries such as Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela, and Lebanon, were not affected by the reductions.
