Executive Order 14169, titled "Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid", is an executive order signed by U.S. president Donald Trump hours after he took office 20 January 2025 ordering a 90-day pause on all U.S. foreign development assistance programs in order to conduct a review.[1][2] On 24 January 2025, the U.S. State Department suspended all existing foreign aid programs, except for emergency food assistance and military aid to Egypt and Israel. New aid was also paused.[3] On 28 January, exemptions were expanded to cover "humanitarian programs that provide life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance".[4] The exemptions excluded "activities that involve abortions, family planning conferences, administrative costs [that are not reasonably used in life-saving aid], gender or DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) ideology programs, transgender surgeries, or other non-life saving assistance."[5][6] Military assistance under the Department of Defense was not directly affected.[4]
The United States provides over 40% of the world's humanitarian aid,[7] and spends around 1% of its budget on foreign aid, including military aid.[8] Surveys suggest that Americans believe 20% of the federal budget is spent on foreign aid, and that 59% of Americans believe the government spends too much on foreign aid.[9]
US foreign aid by country 2022
Trump's first term as president was marked by efforts to cut foreign aid spending and bureaucracy.[9] His administration's first budget proposal in March 2017 included a promise to cut aid to developing countries by over a third.[10] Its May 2017 budget aimed to cut Foreign Operations spending — comprising foreign aid and contributions to international organizations — by 31%. It proposed a reduction of 44% in spending on humanitarian aid, 50% on education aid, and 71% on environmental aid.[9] Efforts to cut foreign aid received bipartisan opposition,[11] and the approved budget resulted in smaller decreases in overall bilateral and multilateral aid of 11% and 12%, respectively, while humanitarian and food aid was increased by 15%. Each of the administration's budget proposals included cuts in foreign aid, and Congress allocated more than requested for each.[9]
At the UN General Assembly in 2018, Trump gave a speech in which he said "Moving forward, we are only going to give foreign aid to those who respect us and, frankly, are our friends".[9]
In 2019 the administration launched the Growth in the Americas initiative, an infrastructure development program widely seen as a response to China's Belt and Road Initiative.[9] The administration oversaw the United States' first substantial provision of lethal military aid to Ukraine.[12] It also oversaw an increase in military aid to Israel.[13]
Hours after U.S. president Donald Trump took office 20 January 2025, he signed an executive order titled Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid, ordering a 90-day pause on all U.S. foreign development assistance programs in order to conduct a review.[1][2] The order said that: "United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy are not aligned with American interests and in many cases antithetical to American values. They serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries." The order gave the Secretary of State the ability to waive the suspension for "specific programs".[2]
On 24 January 2025, the U.S. State Department suspended all existing foreign aid programs, except for emergency food assistance and military aid to Egypt and Israel. New aid was also paused.[3]
On 28 January, exemptions were expanded to cover "humanitarian programs that provide life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance".[4] The exemptions did not include "activities that involve abortions, family planning conferences, administrative costs [that are not reasonably used in life-saving aid], gender or DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) ideology programs, transgender surgeries, or other non-life saving assistance."[5][6]
On 29 January State Department issued a statement to justify the freeze by saying that programs "have little to no incentive to share programmatic-level details so long as the dollars continue to flow".[5][15] The statement claimed that the "pause and review of U.S. foreign aid is already paying dividends to our country and our people", such as by "rooting out waste", "blocking woke programs", and "exposing activities that run contrary to our national interests."[15]
Also on 29 January, following a similar claim by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt the day before, Trump claimed without evidence[16][17][18] that his administration "identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas", or approximately 1 billion condoms.[16] The claim was refuted by aid workers.[16][17][18]
The suspension of State Department aid affects international military financing, education and training; military aid under the Department of Defense was not directly affected.[4]
Effects
The International Rescue Committee told health care clinics in refugee camps in Thailand serving tens of thousands of refugees from Myanmar to be shut by 31 January. Refugees were unable to access medicine or oxygen tanks. The IRC also previously helped with the camp's water distribution and garbage disposal systems.[19] Provision of hygiene kits, emergency shelters, and water support for tens of thousands of Gazans was temporarily suspended — water was not covered by the emergency food exemption. A humanitarian official told CNN that their organization had to pause vaccine distribution.[20] A Millennium Challenge Corporation project to modernize Liberia's energy sector and improve transportation was delayed indefinitely.[21]
On 27 January, PEPFAR staff were unable to log on to their computer systems, affecting clinics that serve 20 million people with HIV. PEPFAR reportedly resumed operations after exemptions were expanded on 28 January.[5]
Despite the exemptions created on 28 January, many organizations remained unsure if they could resume work. On 28 January, Reuters reported that "In Johannesburg, a clinic treating HIV patients and several health centres for transgender people were shuttered on Tuesday and remained closed on Wednesday while organisations sought more guidance."[22]
Al-Hawl refugee camp
On 25 January, hundreds of staff at the Al-Hawl refugee camp in Syria were told to stop working, causing disruptions for water, sanitation, and security.[5] The camp relies heavily on support from NGOs, some of which receive 70% of their funding from the US.[23] The camp holds around 40,000 Islamic State fighters and relatives, mostly women and children.[24][25] Speaking to Reuters, a senior humanitarian official onsite said: "If there's no unfreezing then everything except the camp guards stop. We're expecting mass rioting, breakout attempts. IS will come for the people they've wanted to come for".[26]
The Economist reported that after the State Department order on 24 January, Blumont, which coordinates aid work at Al-Hawl and the smaller Roj camp nearby,[5][24] left the camps and "arranged for other groups to provide 'very much reduced basic services'".[24] On 27 January, Blumont received a waiver allowing it to continue "critical operations" at the camps[5] until 10 February.[27] On 6 February Blumont said it had not been paid by USAID or the State Department since 21 January; it said it had run out of money and was unable to afford working at the camps despite furloughing half of its US-based staff to save funds for field work.[27] On 14 February, Reuters reported that Blumont had received a waiver that would last through the 90-day review period. A Blumont official said the organization had had to shut down around 100 other sites of USAID-funded humanitarian and management work for displaced people.[26]
Proximity International, a contractor at the site—which, per The New York Times, "manages a program to train and equip thousands of Syrians to act as a police force, and provide them with vehicles and equipment"—had to stop work and was unable to renew its contract because of the suspension;[28] it was given a one-month waiver on 31 January, hours before its contract would have expired.[27]
As Al-Hawl and Roj are "closed camps", residents cannot independently leave;[26] the Syrian Network for Human Rights and Paul Jordan of the European Institute of Peace describe Al-Hawl as a "prison camp".[29][30] Blumont distributes around 5,000 bags of bread daily, as well as water, kerosene, and cooking gas. Camp residents reported shortages and delays in provisions.[25]
Jihan Hanan, director of Al-Hawl, called the aid suspension "a disgraceful decision".[25]
USAID
In the days after the order, over 50 senior officials in the U.S. Agency for International Development were placed on leave for attempting to circumvent the suspension.[31]CBS reported that officials placed on leave included "the assistant administrators and deputy assistant administrators heading up most of [USAID's] bureaus", as well as "USAID attorneys in the Office of the General Counsel, who are responsible for interpreting the executive orders for implementation", and that "hundreds of contractors had their employment furloughed or terminated".[32]
Over the weekend of 1–2 February, DOGE officials searched the USAID headquarters, including areas containing classified files and personal information of USAID employees. After security officers tried to turn away DOGE personnel who lacked security clearance, the director and deputy director of USAID security were put on leave. A DOGE spokesperson said on X that no classified documents were accessed without proper clearance. The number of senior USAID staff put on leave rose to near 100. The Trump-appointed USAID chief of staff, Matt Hopson, resigned.[33]
On 2 February, Trump said that USAID was "run by a bunch of radical lunatics, and we're getting them out." DOGE head Elon Musk called USAID "a criminal organization" and said it was "Time for it to die".[33] Early on 3 February, Musk called USAID a "ball of worms . . . beyond repair", and said "[Trump] agreed we should shut it down." The same day, USAID's website went offline and its staff were denied entry to the agency's headquarters.[34]
On 10 February, USAID inspector general Paul Martin said that the dismantling of USAID had left oversight of $8.2 billion in unspent humanitarian aid "largely nonoperational", also noting the impact of the shutdown on "USAID’s capacity to disburse and safeguard its humanitarian assistance programming".[35] He was fired the next day, with no official reason given.[36] The Inspector General Act of 1978 requires that Congress be given 30 days of notice before inspectors general are fired; the law was amended in 2022 to further require a "substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons".[37][38]
Also on 10 February, the Trump administration stripped USAID of the lease of its headquarters, causing its eviction.[39]
Reactions
On 27 January UN Secretary General António Guterres called for additional exemptions to be made to the freeze.[40] Smart News Liberia reported that Liberian president Joseph Boakai began "urgent diplomatic engagements with U.S. officials in an attempt to secure assurances that already approved funds will remain accessible."[21] On 28 January, Kenya's Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei said in a statement "We hope President Trump’s administration will provide new pathways for cushioning most vulnerable populations".[41]
Human Rights Watch said the aid suspension "is putting lives around the world at risk".[42]
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