USAID told: Put America first in foreign aid review

No major impact on Philippines – NEDA

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration has 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 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.

Since taking office last week, Trump has taken steps toward 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 swath of agencies. Hours after taking office, Trump ordered a 90-day pause in foreign aid to review if it was aligned with his foreign policy priorities. On Friday, the State Department issued a stop-work order worldwide even for existing and appropriated assistance, calling into question billions of dollars of life-saving aid.

The US is the largest single donor of aid globally. In fiscal year 2023, it disbursed $72 billion in assistance. It provided 42 percent of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations in 2024. The White House National Security Council and USAID did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

Partial clarity

Friday’s memo shocked the humanitarian groups and communities conducting development aid across the globe. While the scope of the directive appears far-reaching, uncertainties linger over how it will be carried out.

The memo on Saturday offered only partial clarity. The pause on foreign aid spending means “a complete halt,” it said.

The only exceptions are for emergency humanitarian food assistance and for government officials returning to their duty stations. Waivers allowing delivery of emergency food during the review period will require “detailed information and justification.”

The memo said further waivers would require two layers of approval – one from USAID leadership and another by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“Any waiver must be thoroughly justified to demonstrate that the specific assistance for which the waiver is sought is necessary for lifesaving purposes, cannot be performed by current US direct hire staff or would otherwise pose significant risks to national security,” the memo said.

All foreign assistance programs will undergo “comprehensive review” during the pause in spending, the memo says.

“It is important to emphasize that it is no longer business as usual. Every program will be thoroughly scrutinized.” Saturday’s directive also banned any communications outside the agency, including between USAID and the State Department, unless they are approved by the former’s front office.

“Failure to abide by this directive, or any of the directives sent out earlier this week and in the coming weeks, will result in disciplinary action,” it said. USAID began sending a notice to contractors ordering them to “immediately issue stop-work orders” and to “amend or suspend existing awards.”

Even if the policy does allow emergency food assistance to continue, it does not mention other life-saving services required to treat people suffering the effects of acute malnutrition and starvation, according to a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

NEDA: Not much impact

In Manila, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the Trump administration’s order won’t have much impact on the Philippines’ flagship infrastructure projects as many of them are funded by multilateral lenders.

NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said much of the Philippines’ loans in the short term came from other countries and multilateral institutions. But there could be an “indirect” impact if the US is the major shareholder of the lender.

“(If) the lending facility, especially for the official development assistance, in those institutions is affected, then it can also be affected in the medium term,” Balisacan said in a chance interview in Pasay City.

“But for our current infrastructure flagship projects, not much. Many of those projects are funded by Japan, Korea, ADB (Asian Development Bank) and World Bank,” he added.

Balisacan said the grants given by the US may also be affected, but they constitute only a small part of the economy.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said the Philippines should accept Trump’s decision and henceforth should not be dependent on aid.

“We should learn to live with this decision. The Philippines should not be dependent on foreign aid, although we should be welcoming of all aid without strings and conditions which are extended to us,” Pimentel added.

Sen. Loren Legarda, for her part, urged the Department of Foreign Affairs to undertake diplomatic initiatives to help the Philippines cope with the Trump administration’s new directive.

“What we read are statements, right? Any statement has the fine print, the details of it all. I think that’s where diplomacy would come in to find out how this will be implemented in the Philippines,” she said.

“It’s too new and too fresh and too raw to be able to see its implications to our situation here,” she added.

Meanwhile, Renato de Castro, professor of international studies at De La Salle University, said the development may ultimately stop foreign assistance related to climate change and reproductive health.

“One of the first that will be affected is the US economic assistance that have to do with reproductive health. That will be directly affected because when it comes to Republicans, any support when it comes to reproductive health will be removed,” De Castro said in a mix of English and Filipino in an interview with “Storycon” on One News.