US implements broad freeze of foreign aid, excluding military aid to Israel & Egypt

On Friday, the U.S. State Department issued a "stop-work" order for all ongoing foreign assistance and halted new aid, according to a cable obtained by Reuters. Newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump gave a directive to pause and review whether the existing aid distribution was in line with his foreign policy goals.

U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, approved the cable drafted by the State Department. Notably in the draft are waivers for “military financing” for both Israel and Egypt. This includes “administrative expenses and salaries necessary to administer foreign military financing.”

Israel receives an estimated $3.3 billion in foreign military financing annually and Egypt receives nearly half that amount at $1.1 billion.

The United States is the largest single donor of aid globally. As reported by Reuters, “In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. disbursed $72 billion in assistance.”

A short time following the inauguration ceremony, Trump accompanied officials and senior advisors to the Oval Office where he signed several orders with one being “a 90-day pause in foreign development assistance pending a review of efficiencies and consistency with his foreign policy.”

The cable issued by the State Department stated that, effective immediately, senior officials “shall ensure that, to the maximum extent permitted by law, no new obligations for foreign assistance will be made” pending Rubio’s review and forthcoming decision, which must be rendered within the next 85 days.

Officials are concerned that Trump’s decision and the prolonged time Rubio has been given to review the halted aid will result in tragedy and perhaps even death for those in dire straits and whose livelihoods depend on the U.S. aid and subsequent distribution of goods.

Reuters reported Jeremy Konyndyk, a former official with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), who is now president of Refugees International, as saying, "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.”

There was more scrutiny and speculation from an anonymous source with USAID saying that, “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.”

According to the Reuters report, other states identified for “military financing in 2025 include Ukraine, Georgia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Djibouti, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Israel, Egypt and Jordan.”

Additionally, it further mentioned that foreign military financing would “also seek to bolster the Lebanese Armed Forces' ability to mitigate instability and counter malign Iranian influence."

As the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel was set to expire today, Israel has sought an extension which the U.S. first denied but then reconsidered. U.S. officials have made it clear they wouldn’t agree to an extension of 30 more days.

The Lebanese military is advancing into the southern region of the country as Israeli forces prepare to pull back across the border under the current ceasefire agreement, which stipulates the removal of Iran-backed Hezbollah weapons and fighters from areas south of the Litani River.