Unique-Trump administration memo tells USAID to place “America First” in reviewing international support

By Humeyra Pamuk, Maggie Michael and Lena Masri

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration urged U.S. Company for Worldwide Growth (USAID) employees to affix the trouble to rework how Washington allocates support all over the world according to Trump’s “America First” coverage. It threatened “disciplinary motion” for any workers ignoring the administration’s orders.

A sharply-worded memo despatched on Saturday to greater than 10,000 workers at USAID supplied additional steerage to Friday’s “stop-work” directive that successfully put a sweeping freeze on U.S. international support worldwide. The memo, reviewed by Reuters, laid out expectations for the workforce on obtain Trump’s objectives.

“We’ve got a accountability to help the President in attaining his imaginative and prescient,” Ken Jackson, assistant to the administrator for administration and sources wrote within the inside memo, titled “Message and Expectation to the Workforce.”

“The President has given us an incredible alternative to rework the best way we method international help for many years to return,” the memo stated. Reuters confirmed the authenticity of the memo with a number of sources.

Since taking workplace final week, Trump has taken steps towards fulfilling his vow to remake a federal forms he believes was hostile to him throughout his 2017-2021 presidency. He has reassigned or fired a whole bunch of federal employees in simultaneous strikes towards a swath of businesses.

Hours after taking workplace, Trump ordered a 90-day pause in international support to evaluation if it was aligned together with his international coverage priorities. On Friday, the State Division issued a stop-work order worldwide even for present and appropriated help, calling into query billions of {dollars} of life-saving support.

America is the most important single donor of support globally. In fiscal 12 months 2023, it disbursed $72 billion in help.

USAID and the White Home Nationwide Safety Council (NSC) didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon this story.

Friday’s memo shocked the humanitarian teams and communities conducting improvement support throughout the globe. Whereas the scope of the directive seems far-reaching, uncertainties linger over how will probably be carried out.

The memo on Saturday supplied solely partial readability.

The pause on international support spending means “an entire halt,” it stated. The one exceptions are for emergency humanitarian meals help and for presidency officers returning to their responsibility stations. Waivers permitting supply of emergency meals through the evaluation interval would require “detailed info and justification.”

The memo stated additional waivers would require two layers of approval – one from USAID management and one other by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Any waiver should be totally justified to display that the particular help for which the waiver is sought is critical for lifesaving functions, can’t be carried out by present U.S. direct rent workers, or would in any other case pose vital dangers to nationwide safety,” the memo stated.

All international help packages will bear “complete evaluation” through the pause in spending, the memo says. “It is very important emphasize that it’s not enterprise as ordinary. Each program might be totally scrutinized.”

Saturday’s directive additionally banned any communications outdoors the company, together with between USAID and the State Division, until they’re authorized by the previous’s entrance workplace.

“Failure to abide by this directive, or any of the directives despatched out earlier this week and within the coming weeks, will lead to disciplinary motion,” it stated.

Individually, USAID despatched contractors a discover ordering them to “instantly challenge stop-work orders” and to “amend, or droop present awards.” 

Humanitarian organizations and different donors are scrambling to grasp how the directive will impression life-saving operations in international locations throughout the globe. It’s too quickly to inform whether or not or what particular companies should be paused, they stated.

In 2024, the U.S. supplied 42% of all humanitarian support tracked by the United Nations.