The Donald Trump Administration Announces the Cancellation of Over 90% of USAID Grants

February 28, 2025.

    The administration of Donald Trump has announced the cancellation of more than 90% of the grants provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for foreign aid. CNN reports this development.
    
    According to the administration's statement, nearly 5,800 USAID grants have been revoked, while only about 500 grants have been retained. The total capped value of the preserved contracts amounts to approximately $57 billion.
    
    In addition to USAID grants, around 4,100 government grants have also been canceled, while approximately 2,700 government grants remain in place.
    
    Later, the administration clarified that there are still 297 contracts pending review.
    
    As CNN reports, this information was provided by the Trump administration in response to a lawsuit challenging the complete suspension of foreign aid.
    
    According to the statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made final decisions on each grant individually on Wednesday, either retaining or terminating them based on whether the grant "aligns with the national interests and foreign policy of the United States."
    
    However, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit dismissed claims that Rubio personally reviewed all contract termination decisions, arguing that neither a single person nor a group of individuals could have meaningfully examined all these contracts in such a short time frame.
    
    It is worth recalling that on January 20, the day of his inauguration, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending all U.S. foreign aid programs for 90 days to assess their compliance with national interests and American foreign policy objectives. Subsequently, the U.S. State Department temporarily lifted the freeze on humanitarian programs deemed to be "life-saving," providing medicine, medical services, food, shelter, and livelihood assistance.
    
    On February 3, businessman Elon Musk claimed that Donald Trump had allegedly agreed that USAID should be dismantled. Prior to that, the Trump administration placed USAID's top officials on leave, shut down the agency’s website, and transferred USAID under the authority of Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Later, the Trump administration ordered the dismissal of at least 1,600 USAID employees.