US officially stops most foreign aid, including to Ukraine

(CLO) The US State Department has officially frozen most foreign aid worldwide, days after President Donald Trump issued a comprehensive executive order on Monday to suspend such aid for 90 days.

New US Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent a cable to all US diplomatic missions on Friday, stating that the move threatens billions of dollars in funding from the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for programs around the world.

Only Israel and Egypt are exempted.

The cable called for an immediate “stop work” order on existing foreign aid and a halt to new aid. Essentially, all foreign aid was targeted. That meant lifesaving global health aid, development aid, military aid, and even clean water distribution could be affected.

The cable only exempts emergency food aid and foreign military funding to Israel and Egypt. The cable does not specifically mention any other countries that receive military aid, such as Ukraine or Taiwan, as being exempt from the freeze.

New US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (center) takes the oath of office on January 21, 2025. Photo: Office of the US Vice President

Foreign aid has been a target of Republican criticism in the past, but the scope of the executive order and subsequent cables stunned humanitarian officials and the State Department.

According to the document, the US administration will develop criteria next month to consider whether this aid is "consistent with President Trump's foreign policy agenda".

“A decision to continue, modify or terminate the program will be made following this review,” the cable said, noting that such a review must be completed within 85 days.

In a public statement on Wednesday, Mr. Rubio said that “every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified by the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?”

HIV/AIDS prevention fund and many humanitarian aid affected

The impact of the aid freeze would be huge, as the United States remains the world's largest humanitarian donor. "This is a global panic at the moment," one humanitarian official said on Saturday.

InterAction, a coalition of international NGOs, said on Saturday that the freeze “disrupts critical life-saving work including clean water for newborns, basic education for children, ending the trafficking of girls, and providing medicines to sick children and others. It halts assistance to countries important to US interests, including Taiwan, Syria, and Pakistan.”

“The recent shutdown cable from the State Department has suspended programs that support US global leadership and created dangerous voids that China and our adversaries will quickly fill,” the statement said.

Funding for HIV/AIDS around the world would also be affected by the bans. The International AIDS Society (IAS) warned on Saturday that halting HIV/AIDS programmes such as PEPFAR would put millions of lives at risk.

“This is a matter of life and death,” IAS President Beatriz Grinsztejn said in a statement. “PEPFAR provides life-saving antiretroviral drugs to more than 20 million people – and stopping funding for PEPFAR essentially means stopping their HIV treatment. If that happens, people will die and HIV will recur.”

In his executive order, Mr Trump declared that “the foreign aid industry and the US bureaucracy have been out of step with the interests of the American people and in many cases contrary to American values”.

Huy Hoang (according to USAID, FT, CNN)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/my-chinh-thuc-dung-hau-het-vien-tro-nuoc-ngoai-gom-ca-cho-ukraine-post332048.html