By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-20 14:37:01 | Updated at 2025-01-20 16:54:08
2 hours ago
Donald Trump will sign an executive order Monday halting all new foreign aid unless it fits with U.S. strategic goals, according to two incoming senior White House officials.
The aim is to prevent American taxpayers' cash falling into the hands of groups working against the U.S. or promoting 'diversity, equity, inclusion' agendas, for example.
And it will likely immediately halt new U.S. money going to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
It is the agency that distributes aid in Gaza but it has repeatedly been accused of close ties to the terror group Hamas. The UN admitted that nine of its staff may been involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
'The United States and American citizens have been some of the most generous people in the entire world,' an incoming White House policy adviser told DailyMail.com.
'But at this point, we have to understand that foreign policy is domestic policy, and if this is not aligned with our interests, then Uncle Sam should not be opening up his pocketbook any longer.'
The executive order comes among the first to be signed by Trump after being sworn into office for a second term.
It signals his desire to bring foreign aid spending into line with his America First policy agenda and to sync it with the work of the State Department.
Donald Trump will sign an executive order Monday halting all new foreign aid unless it fits with U.S. strategic goals, according to two incoming senior White House officials
It will likely choke off money to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, which has frequently been accused of working against Israel
But it will send shockwaves around the world and among aid agencies who rely on the U.S. as the world's biggest donor, spending as much as $76 billion per year.
Trump slashed aid spending during his first term and set out his concerns again earlier this year.
'WE SHOULD NEVER GIVE MONEY ANYMORE WITHOUT THE HOPE OF A PAYBACK, OR WITHOUT "STRINGS" ATTACHED,' he posted in all caps on his Truth Social platform just as the Senate prepared to vote on a massive aid bill in February.
'THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA SHOULD BE "STUPID" NO LONGER!'
Republicans have frequently raised red flags about U.S. aid.
Republican lawmakers in 2023 asked why USAID, the biggest U.S. foreign aid agency, had given $110,000 to Helping Hand for Relief and Development despite what they said were well documented ties to 'designated terrorist organizations, terror financiers, and extremist groups.'
The Pakistani group has been accused of links to the sectarian terror group. Lashkar-e-Taiba.
More recently, a U.S. government watchdog found that aid sent to Afghanistan had ended up in the hands of the country's Taliban rulers.
American taxpayers' cash has ended up in the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction reported that more than $10 million of American taxpayers' money had been paid to the extremist group that fought U.S. forces for 20 years.
Trump flagged the money during his speech on Sunday evening.
'Do you know that we pay billions of dollars a year ... to Afghanistan? Do you know that?' he asked, referencing almost $3 billion that has gone to ease a humanitarian crisis since U.S. troops left.
He proposed only sending the money if Afghanistan retrurns American military gear left behind.
The executive order will make all new aid payments subject to review by the Secretary of State.
The incoming White House policy adviser said it was a case of 'realigning and reevaluating' U.S. foreign aid.
'Anybody who has eyes and has been paying attention knows that the US foreign aid industry and bureaucracy is not aligned with American interests,' they said.
'In many cases, it's antithetical to our values. It often destabilizes world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations, internal to and between countries.
Trump set out his thoughts on foreign aid last year as the Senate weighed a huge package of spending, including money for Ukraine
Trump will be sworn in Monday. He is seen here during his 2017 inauguration
Washington has put up miles of fences and barricades for the inauguration
'So now it is going to be the policy with the United States that no further aid will be issued that is not fully aligned with the president's foreign policy.
'And in addition to that, all foreign aid is immediately going to be subject to review, and no new funds will be distributed unless' approved by the Secretary of State, or someone he designates.
Trump is planning a busy first week with a slew of executive orders.
They are expected to include directives to remove insubordinate employees, keeping TikTok running, halt spending on Joe Biden's green energy projects, declare an emergency at the border, end 'catch and release' policies and designate Mexican drug cartels as 'foreign terrorist organizations.'
