The U.S. has officially canceled 83% of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) programs, with the roughly 1,000 remaining contracts to be administered by the State Department, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on March 10.
The decision to cancel 5,200 USAID contracts comes after a six-week review of the U.S.'s top foreign aid agency, which the Trump administration accused of waste, fraud, and pushing a "liberal agenda."
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, USAID has provided $2.6 billion in humanitarian aid, $5 billion in development assistance, and more than $30 billion in direct budget support to Kyiv.
The agency has funded school reconstruction, bomb shelters, critical energy repairs, and civil society initiatives.
Elon Musk, U.S. President Donald Trump's ally who supposedly oversees the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has led the charge against USAID, laying off staff and attacking the agency in public, often making baseless or false claims about its work.
Rubio thanked DOGE for "this overdue and historic reform," claiming that the aborted contracts have "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." He did not provide any examples of how USAID programs endangered U.S. interests.
The cuts are nevertheless smaller than indicated by a statement from the Trump administration last month, which talked about slashing 90% of all contracts.
USAID cuts mark a significant realignment of U.S. foreign policy, which saw the Trump administration adopt increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Ukraine and other partners while seeking to renew ties with Moscow.
The mass cancelation of USAID contracts also threatens various Ukrainian organizations and projects across multiple sectors, including energy, education, media, and humanitarian support.
Abbey Fenbert
(Updated: )
