Trump Issues Executive Order on ‘Realigning’ Foreign Aid

On Jan. 20, President Donald Trump issued an executive order entitled “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid.” The order asserts that U.S. foreign aid and bureaucracy are “in many cases antithetical to American values” and that they “serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.”

Trump ordered a 90-day pause in “United States foreign development assistance for assessment of programmatic efficiencies and consistency with United States foreign policy.” Pending this review of “programmatic efficiency and consistency with United States foreign policy,” department and agency heads are instructed to pause “new obligations and disbursements of development assistance funds to foreign countries and implementing non-governmental organizations, international organizations, and contractors.”

The order also requires the relevant department and agency heads to order these reviews of U.S. foreign assistance programs under guidelines provided by the secretary of state in consultation with the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Department and agency heads are also required to make determinations within 90 days of the executive order on “whether to continue, modify, or cease each foreign assistance program based upon the review recommendations,” with the concurrence of the secretary of state. 

After review, if the secretary of state or his designee—in consultation with the director of OMB—determines that an aid program should be continued in the same or modified form, “new obligations and disbursements of foreign development assistance funds may resume for a program prior to the end of the 90-day period.” The order also requires that any new foreign aid programs and obligations must be approved by the secretary of state or his designee, in consultation with the director of OMB.

Read the order here or below: