Rubio announces cancellation of 83% of USAID programmes after review

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday said that Trump administration has cancelled more than 80 per cent of all the programmes at US Agency for International Development following a six-week review.

Taking to X, Rubio said, “After a 6 week review we are officially cancelling 83% of the programs at USAID. The 5200 contracts that are now cancelled 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.”

“In consultation with Congress, we intend for the remaining 18% of programs we are keeping (approximately 1000) to now be administered more effectively under the State Department,” he added.

US President Donald Trump returned to office on January 20 and immediately imposed a 90-day pause on foreign aid while reviewing whether the programmes align with his “America First” foreign policy.

The order, along with subsequent stop-work directives, threw USAID into disarray, halting its global operations and jeopardising the delivery of critical food and medical aid, which disrupted humanitarian relief efforts worldwide.

While the administration claimed to provide waivers for life-saving aid, humanitarian workers reported that funding remained frozen.

Thousands of staff were laid off or placed on leave, with most not expected to return.

Thank you to DOGE and our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform," he added.

Rubio also thanked the staffers of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency led by billionaire Elon Musk, who has been conducting an unprecedented scaling down of the U.S. federal government.

“Thank you to DOGE and our hardworking staff who worked very long hours to achieve this overdue and historic reform,” Rubio said.

A few hours later, Musk responded: “Tough, but necessary. Good working with you. The important parts of USAID should always have been with Dept of State.”

His comments came after the New York Times reported that he and Musk clashed during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, with Musk accusing the top US diplomat of not carrying out deep enough staff cuts at the State Department.

During the meeting, Trump asserted that his Cabinet members, not Musk, hold the final authority on staffing and policy decisions within their agencies, according to Reuters.

He denied the NYT report on Friday when questioned by reporters.

On Saturday evening, Trump, Musk, and Rubio dined together at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, as confirmed by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Sunday.

With inputs from agencies