Trump administration scraps over 80% of USAID programs, top diplomat Rubio says

The US president has tasked close adviser Musk with dismantling USAID as part of a push to shrink federal government

Terminated US Agency for International Development (USAID) employee Caitlin Harwood gestures as she hugs her cousin Samantha Kent after laid-off USAID workers cleared out their desks and collected personal belongings, during a sendoff in Washington, DC, US, Feb 27, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

The Trump administration has closed more than 80 percent of programmes and 5,200 contracts at the US Agency for International Development, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, as his department concluded its review of the agency charged with dispensing overseas aid.

The cancellations were official following the State Department's six-week review, Rubio said in a post on his personal account on X on Monday.

They reflected contracts that "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," Rubio said.

"We intend for the remaining...programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department," he said, and thanked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by billionaire Elon Musk.

Republican US President Donald Trump ordered a 90-day pause on all foreign aid payments on his first day in office. Aid groups have reported chaos and confusion. Thousands of staff have been placed on leave or fired.

Trump has tasked close adviser Musk with dismantling USAID as part of a push to shrink federal government.

Meanwhile, US foreign aid organisations have sued Trump's administration over its funding freeze and say they are owed more than $671 million for past work. A federal court has ordered the funds be paid by a Monday deadline.

For programmes where the initial cuts have been reversed, some foreign aid groups said that, as of last week, restored funds had yet to arrive.