A US shutdown on foreign aid is hitting from Africa to Asia to Ukraine. Here's how
A US shutdown on foreign aid is hitting from Africa to Asia to Ukraine. Here's how
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U.S-funded aid programs around the world have begun firing staff and shutting down or preparing to stop their operations, as the Trump administration's unprecedented freeze on almost all foreign assistance brings their work to a sudden halt. Allies including Ukraine also are struggling to save part of their security funding from the 90-day freeze, ordered by President Donald Trump last week. Trump also just paused federal grants and loans inside the United States.
The Trump administration says it ordered the foreign aid pause to give it time to decide which of the thousands of humanitarian, development and security programs will keep getting money from the U.S. Meantime, U.S. officials ordered the programs to stop spending immediately. Only emergency food programs and military aid to allies Israel and Egypt were exempt.
The freeze means schools in Liberia are prepared this week to fire cooks who provide children with lunch. U.S. efforts to aid American businesses abroad and to counter China's rising influence could close. Veterans in Ukraine who call a crisis hotline may soon get a recorded message, with no promise of a call back.
Here’s a look at the foreign funding freeze and how it is hitting U.S. aid programs worldwide:. Grappling with the global scale of the aid shutdown. The United States is the world's largest source of foreign assistance by far, although other countries give a bigger share of their budgets. It provides 4 out of every 10 dollars donated for humanitarian aid.
