(VOVWORLD) -The Trump administration has terminated more than 80% of the programs being conducted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), following a six-week review, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday.
 US President Donald Trump (Photo: Reuters) |
The 5,200 contracts that are now scrapped had spent tens of billions of dollars in ways that did not serve, and in some cases even harmed the core national interests of the United States, Rubio said in an X post. The remaining 1,000 programs, he said, will now be administered more effectively under the State Department and in consultation with Congress.
President Donald Trump returned to office on January 20 and immediately ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid pending a review of whether the programs aligned with his "America First" foreign policy. The order disrupted USAID, shutting down operations worldwide and leading to mass layoffs.