The US cancels 83% of United States Agency for International Development (USAID) programs, the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on his X account, APA reports.
Marco Rubio stated that after a 6-week investigation, US is officially canceling 83% of USAID programs: "After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID. The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled 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. In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department."
The Secretary of State thanked Elon Musk for his involvement in the process, leading the US Government's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
What’s going on with USAID?
On his first day in office on January 20, Trump implemented a 90-day freeze on foreign assistance. Four days later, Peter Marocco — a returning political appointee from Trump’s first term — drafted a tougher-than-expected interpretation of that order, a move that shut down thousands of programs around the world and forced furloughs and layoffs.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since moved to keep more kinds of strictly life-saving emergency programs going during the freeze. But confusion over what programs are exempted from the Trump administration’s stop-work orders — and fear of losing US aid permanently — is still freezing aid and development work globally.
USAID in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan has refused to renew its cooperation agreement with The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said, accusing Washington of using USAID to pursue its political agenda.
Bayramov, who was speaking at a news conference with his Georgian counterpart, said that Baku had suspended cooperation with USAID in June 2024.
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