The new US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has sent a statement to diplomatic and consular destinations throughout the world of the first world power in which they impose them immediately to stop the expense in international aid.
He … Diplomatic cable sent by Rubio occurs after the US president, Donald Trump, signed an executive order on Monday, a few hours after swearing his position, for the freezing of international aid. The presidential decree imposed to stop any disbursement in this chapter until there is a review and approval, in a period of ninety days, of each of those items.
The statement of the head of the US diplomacy stipulates that the US government will not provide foreign assistance by OA through the State Department and the USAID – the US International Development Agency – without the authorization of the Secretary of the Secretary State or authorization of your designated ».
“New items or extensions of new items will not be committed until each of those items or extensions have been reviewed and approved,” he adds.
The Directive also aims to affect existing items: “For existing foreign aid items, the contracting authorities must immediately have orders for suspension of activities, consisting of the stipulations of the departure until the moment that the secretary determines it, after his revision” .
The US is the largest external aid donor in the world, with items that in 2023 reached 68,000 million dollars.
Rubio’s order has some exceptions. It does not affect the foreign military of both Israel and Egypt, its two main partners in the Middle East and two countries with which Rubio spoke before issuing the cable. But it does not specifically cite as an exception the military aid to other key allies, such as Ukraine, at a time when the kyiv government tries to improve its position on the front to have more negotiating power with Russia.
There is also an exemption for “food assistance and administrative expenses, including the salaries necessary to administer such assistance.”
Trump and his allies have been critical of the US foreign aid policies although they represent a very small percentage of public spending, they condemn many of those items, which should devote themselves to the needs of the Americans.
Rubio has defended that American foreign aid should only be granted if he makes the US more “strong”, “safe” or “prosperous.”
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