Trump's foreign policy: USA cuts development aid budget by more than 90 percent

The already threatened dissolution of USAID is taking clear shape in Washington, DC. In the wake of the far-reaching cuts in US authorities, the State Department in Washington has announced that budget funds for development aid programs abroad will be drastically reduced.

The US State Department announced on Wednesday that around 5,800 contracts with a term of several years had been cut by 92 percent. This corresponds to a sum of around 54 billion dollars (the equivalent of around 52 billion euros).

The US government had already announced in recent days that most employees of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) would be furloughed and 1,600 USAID positions in Washington would be completely eliminated. Federal judge Carl Nichols had previously cleared the way for the layoffs and lifted his temporary blockade of the government's plans.

A ministry spokesman said the cuts were the result of a process led by USAID leadership, which also included funds that were "personally reviewed" by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The billion-dollar contracts were identified for elimination as "part of US President Donald Trump's America First policy."

The radical restructuring of the agency planned by the Republicans has hit USAID the hardest so far: a comprehensive spending freeze has already stopped most of the development aid agency's programs worldwide. Trump said the agency was run by "a bunch of radical lunatics." His adviser, multi-billionaire Elon Musk, described USAID as "a viper's nest of radical left-wing Marxists who hate America" ​​and a "criminal organization."

USAID is the most important American agency for international development cooperation. According to the most recent data on the distribution of aid granted, Ukraine, Ethiopia and Jordan were the largest recipients of aid in 2023.

Meanwhile, the highest US court has spared President Trump's government from having to release billions of dollars frozen for development aid projects. A judge had previously given the US government an ultimatum that would have expired at midnight on Wednesday - after which the government would have had to release the payments. The Supreme Court has now extended the deadline indefinitely in order to first get a better picture of the situation.

Trump, with the help of Musk's so-called Office of Government Efficiency, has largely dismantled the US Agency for International Development and incorporated what was left into the State Department. Contracts with organisations that had worked for USAID, including in developing countries, were also suspended.

A total of two billion US dollars in payment obligations are said to have been frozen. Among other things, aid deliveries, such as medicine and food, are said to have fallen by the wayside, writes the Washington Post . The parties now have until Friday to provide the Supreme Court with further information. Two aid organizations had filed the lawsuit.