Trump administration memo tells USAID to put ‘America first’ in reviewing foreign aid

Humanitarian aid groups reeling as State Department freezes new funding for nearly all US aid programmes worldwide

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Food from USAID for Ethiopian refugees who fled the Tigray conflict in 2020. File photo: AFP

Published: 4:16am, 27 Jan 2025Updated: 4:13pm, 27 Jan 2025

The Trump administration urged US Agency for International Development (USAID) workers to join the effort to transform how Washington allocates aid around the world in line with Trump’s “America First” policy. It threatened “disciplinary action” for any staff ignoring the administration’s orders.

A sharply-worded memo sent on Saturday to more than 10,000 staff at USAID offered further guidance to Friday’s “stop-work” directive that effectively put a sweeping freeze on US foreign aid worldwide. The memo, reviewed by Reuters, laid out expectations for the workforce on how to achieve Trump’s goals.

“We have a responsibility to support the President in achieving his vision,” Ken Jackson, assistant to the administrator for management and resources wrote in the internal memo, titled “Message and Expectation to the Workforce”.

“The President has given us a tremendous opportunity to transform the way we approach foreign assistance for decades to come,” the memo said. Reuters confirmed the authenticity of the memo with several sources.

Boxes containing tent material from USAID for Philippine victims of super typhoon Haiyan in 2013. File photo: Reuters

Since taking office last week, Trump has taken steps towards fulfilling his vow to remake a federal bureaucracy he believes was hostile to him during his 2017-2021 presidency. He has reassigned or fired hundreds of federal workers in simultaneous moves against a swathe of agencies.