‘People are anxious’: USAID staff rattled by Trump's foreign aid freeze
Humanitarian organizations were bracing for foreign aid cuts but were taken aback when President Donald Trump issued a sweeping executive order pausing assistance for the next 90 days.
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s move to temporarily suspend all US foreign assistance has set off a wave of panic among aid organizations working in Middle East hot spots and was met with deep unease by employees at the US Agency for International Development.
“People are anxious and I think fairly unsettled at this point,” said a senior USAID official who was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Hours after taking office on Monday, Trump signed an executive order that freezes the disbursement of foreign development assistance for 90 days, pending a review of those programs to determine whether they are “aligned with American interests.”
