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The Trump administration freezes new funding for HIV programs and other health services, except key food programs.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has announced a freeze on almost all new funding for foreign assistance programs, with exceptions for allies Israel and Egypt.
Friday’s U.S. State Department order also includes exceptions for emergency food programs, but not for health programs that supporters say provide vital, life-saving services.
In an accompanying memo, newly confirmed Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed senior officials to “ensure that, to the fullest extent permitted by law, no new foreign assistance obligations are imposed.”
Humanitarian organizations immediately expressed alarm at the directive, expressing fears that it could contribute to global instability and loss of life.
“By suspending foreign development assistance, the Trump administration is threatening the lives and futures of communities in crisis and abandoning the United States’ long-standing bipartisan approach to foreign assistance, which supports people according to their needs. needs, regardless of politics,” said Abby Maxman. the director of Oxfam America said in a statement.
The temporary freeze is expected to last for a period of at least three months. In the first 85 days, Rubio is expected to make “decisions about continuing, modifying or terminating programs,” according to the memo.
Among the health programs expected to experience a funding freeze is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as PEPFAR.
Established in 2003 under the George W. Bush administration, PEPFAR enjoyed broad bipartisan support for two decades, until Congress missed a deadline to renew its funding in 2023. Its funding got a one-year extension through March 2025, but that period will expire. within a period of three months.
Experts estimate that PEPFAR has helped save up to 25 million lives since its inception.
The freeze does not affect aid to Israel and Egypt, two of the largest recipients of American military assistance.
Both countries have faced scrutiny over their human rights records and calls to leverage U.S. aid in exchange for substantial reforms.
Friday’s memo made special mention of exemptions for “foreign military financing for Israel and Egypt and administrative expenses, including salaries, necessary to administer foreign military financing.”
There was no sign of a similar waiver for Ukraine, which relies heavily on U.S. weapons assistance as it fights to repel a large-scale Russian invasion launched in February 2022.
The United States spent more than $60 billion on foreign assistance in 2023, more than any other country overall.
But that sum represents about 1 percent of U.S. government spending. In the wake of Friday’s memo, some aid projects around the world were ordered to stop.
“This is crazy,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former US Agency for International Development (USAID) official.
He shared his outrage with the Reuters news agency. “This will kill people. I mean, if it is implemented as written on that cable… a lot of people will die.”
