Donald Trump admin freezes all foreign aid by US, including that to Ukraine; Israel exempted

The United States, world's biggest donor, has not frozen emergency food and military funding for Israel and Egypt, according to a news agency AFP report.

In a sweeping order, the newly sworn in Donald Trump administration in US on Friday reportedly froze all foreign aid, including that to Ukraine, with exceptions only for Israel and Egypt.

US President Donald Trump leaves the President’s Room with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Vice President JD Vance, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, after signing official documents on January 20(via REUTERS)

The United States, world's biggest donor, has not frozen emergency food and military funding for Israel and Egypt, according to a news agency AFP report.

In an internal memo, cited in the report, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "No new funds shall be obligated for new awards or extensions of existing awards until each proposed new award or extension has been reviewed and approved."

The move is in line with US President Donald Trump's vow of an "America First" policy of tightly restricting assistance overseas.

The order is expected to affect everything from development assistance to military aid -- including to Ukraine, which received billions of dollars in weapons under Trump's predecessor Joe Biden in its bid to fight the Russian invasion.

The AFP report said that the directive also means a pause of at least several months of US funding for PEPFAR, the anti-HIV/AIDS initiative that buys anti-retroviral drugs to treat the disease in developing countries, largely in Africa.

Launched under president George W. Bush in 2003, PEPFAR is said to have saved about 26 million lives and until recently enjoyed broad popular support along partisan lines in Washington.

Israel, Egypt exempted

The memo explicitly made exceptions for military assistance to Israel -- whose longstanding major arms packages from the United States have expanded further since the Gaza war. Egypt, which has received generous US defense funding since it signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, has also been exempted from the move.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also made an exception for US contributions to emergency food assistance, which the United States has been contributing following crises around the world including in Sudan and Syria.

The memo allows the State Department to make other case-by-case exceptions and temporarily to fund salaries to staff and other administrative expenses.

The memo reportedly called for an internal review of all foreign assistance within 85 days.

Marco Rubio wrote in the memo that it was impossible for the new administration to assess whether existing foreign aid commitments “are not duplicated, are effective and are consistent with President Trump's foreign policy.”

While a number of European nations donate significantly more as a percent of their economies, the US has long been the world's top donor in dollar terms.

The US gave more than $64 billion in overseas development assistance in 2023, as per to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which advises industrialised countries. Records were not available for the year 2024, the report said.