The U.S. State Department issued a "stop-work" order on Friday for all existing foreign assistance and paused new aid, according to a cable seen by Reuters, after President Donald Trump ordered a pause to review if aid allocation was aligned with his foreign policy.
The cable, drafted by the Department's foreign assistance office and approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said waivers have been issued for military financing for Israel and Egypt. No other countries were mentioned in the cable.
The move risks cutting off billions of dollars of life-saving assistance. The United States is the largest single donor of aid globally - in fiscal year 2023, it disbursed $72 billion in assistance.
Just hours after taking office on Monday, Trump ordered a 90-day pause in foreign development assistance pending a review of efficiencies and consistency with his foreign policy but the scope of the order was not immediately known.
The State Department cable said effective immediately, senior officials "shall ensure that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, no new obligations shall be made for foreign assistance" until Rubio has made a decision after a review.
It says that for existing foreign assistance awards stop-work orders shall be issued immediately until reviewed by Rubio.
"This is lunacy," Jeremy Konyndyk, a former USAID official who is now president of Refugees International, said. "This will kill people. I mean, if implemented as written in that cable ... a lot of people will die."
"There's no way to consider this as a good-faith attempt to sincerely review the effectiveness of foreign assistance programming. This is just simply a wrecking ball to break as much stuff as possible," Konyndyk said.
Trump's order is unlawful, argued a source familiar discussions in Congress on the move.
"Freezing these international investments will lead our international partners to seek other funding partners - likely U.S. competitors and adversaries - to fill this hole and displace the United States' influence the longer this unlawful impoundment continues," the source said on condition of anonymity.
WAIVERS
A USAID official, who requested anonymity, said officers responsible for projects in Ukraine have been told to stop all work. Among the projects that have been frozen are support to schools and health assistance like emergency maternal care and childhood vaccinations, the official said.
Across the board, "decisions whether to continue, modify, or terminate programs will be made" by Rubio following a review over the next 85 days. Until then Rubio can approve waivers.
Rubio has issued a waiver for emergency food assistance, according to the cable. This comes amid a surge of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip after a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants Hamas began on Sunday and several other hunger crises around the world, including Sudan.
But Konyndyk said emergency food assistance was just a minority of all humanitarian assistance, adding that nutrition, health and vaccination programs will have to stop, as would relief aid to Gaza and Syria as well as services to refugee camps in Sudan.
"It's manufactured chaos," said a former senior official with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Organizations will have to stop all activities, so all lifesaving health services, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, maternal and child health, all agriculture work, all support of civil society organizations, education," said the official.
The State Department cable also said waivers have so far been approved by Rubio for "foreign military financing for Israel and Egypt and administrative expenses, including salaries, necessary to administer foreign military financing."
Israel receives about $3.3 billion in foreign military financing annually, while Egypt receives about $1.3 billion
Other states identified for such financing in 2025 include Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Djibouti, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Israel, Egypt and Jordan, according to a request to Congress from former President Joe Biden's administration.
That request also said foreign military financing would "also seek to bolster the Lebanese Armed Forces' ability to mitigate instability and counter malign Iranian influence."
The Lebanese military is currently trying to deploy into the south of the country as Israeli troops withdraw under a ceasefire deal that requires Iran-backed Hezbollah weapons and fighters to also be removed from the area.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
31 Comments
Randy Johnson
Promises made, promises kept.
America First. Americans First.
Absolutely nothing wrong with that.
wallace
Some countries and communities will suffer badly without the aid.
wallace
The USA is becoming isolationist, but no man is an island.
Blacklabel
Nothing wrong with pausing for review of where money is going and for what. Quite common.
OssanAmerica
It's fine to review US Aid and make corrections where need be. But US Aid is American soft power and necessary to necessary to confront and compete with our adversaries, China and Russia. Hope Trump understands this.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Nothing more important than supporting israel I guess :/
TaiwanIsNotChina
This foreign aid is a pittance and keeps us from having to fight wars.
Absolutely everything wrong with this.
TaiwanIsNotChina
If we lose another base around the world, we will know who to thank...
WA4TKG
More America bashing, even while paying out literally BILLIONS.
Keep it coming
Blacklabel
yes, Donald J. Trump. Thank you!
bass4funk
Good! We need to exactly where our money is going. I’m tired of hearing always in the end that no one knows where the money went, that’s got to stop and we need to have serious accountability here!
bass4funk
Good!
TaiwanIsNotChina
Republicans have been all over USAID for decades. You are not winning any additional efficiency or saving any money, just making the US less safe.
Megan Thee Stallion
President Trump looking after Americans first.
Abe234
Well I'm no politician, or economist. While the money may be kept in the US, I could see some countries going to.............CHINA for aid. and I am sure china would open up their arms. Possibly the EU, Maybe even Japan. He might have a point but why does isreal need financial aid?
They don't need AID, they can just buy them from the said US companies.( or would that be SUBSIDIES? mmmm
I have absolutely no idea what they are giving aid to Latvia,Estonia and Lithuania, who all probably get aid/subsidies from the E.U? and they are hardly in need of aid. Some other may stragically be worth the investment, but the Baltics? They are happy to stay in the EU, US sphere and they have absolutely no intntions of looking to Putin or Xi for any aid.
Megan Thee Stallion
If we lose another base around the world, we will know who to thank...
Too many bases, good to save some money.
Toblerone
It always baffled me - the US shelling out billions in aid for decades and being criticized and whined about by the very nations receiving it.
wallace
bass4funk
Do you mean the money paid by taxpayers? That's not all Americans, especially ex-pats.
Toblerone
Africa and the ME are not the Philippines. If we are ejected from there we do not come back.
Perfectly fine by me.
wallace
The USA is becoming isolationist, but no man is an island.
The USA needs the rest of the world for trade, supplying raw materials, and allies, and providing the 800 military bases.
The USA cannot survive alone. It's not China.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Saving a dollar and then losing a war costing trillions is not really saving money.
bass4funk
Yeah, you think that if you want. Lol
That’s right, and yes, most Americans.
TaiwanIsNotChina
A lot of times the common people don't see the aid because MAGAs are only interest that it leave the US government to private industry. After that, it is not their concern.
TaiwanIsNotChina
*only interested
TaiwanIsNotChina
Well, yes, we have reason to suspect you would want China and russia running things around the world.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Even China cannot survive alone.
TaiwanIsNotChina
*illegal
ok1517
Yup, Donald going full steam!
Going to hit the wall soon(er than later).
What a pitiful old man - burning all the bridges that were built by others.
Guess what, the Ukraine aid will also stop - as promised to his buddy in the Kremlin.
The one in Russia begins a war to gain, the one in the US prefers blackmailing!
No big difference!
TaiwanIsNotChina
Less corruption than russia.
GuruMick
None of the US money was "gifted " without some quid pro quo , strings attached etc.
I know US evangelical groups opposed US aid for family planning, even birth control like condoms.
Women are going to die giving birth because some white pseudo Christian in Alabama thinks he talks to Jesus.
OK US, OK the Americans commenting favourably on your "Orange Man ".....go jump in the lake.
We, the civilised world, dont want you.
Dont come crying when you next need some cannon fodder for your next war.
wallace
Do you mean the money paid by taxpayers? That's not all Americans, especially ex-pats.
Only 165 million Americans pay federal income tax. Less than half of the population. Expats overseas pay nothing or very little.