UN agencies cut back aid operations after Trump’s 90-day suspension

UN agencies have begun cutting back their global aid operations following the 90-day suspension of all foreign assistance ordered by the Trump administration.

Filippo Grandi, the head of the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, responsible for providing life-saving assistance to the 122 million people forcibly displaced from their homes across 136 countries, sent out an overnight email to employees ordering an immediate clampdown on expenditure, including a 90-day delay in ordering new supplies except for emergencies, a hiring and contract freeze, and a halt to all international air travel, as the agency tries to adapt to the US funding freeze.

Grandi said the majority of UN agencies and other international aid organisations have been affected. Around the world, humanitarian assistance programmes have been forced to fire staff and slow down operations following the unprecedented US funding suspension ordered by Trump, pending a review of all aid programmes. Only emergency food programs and military aid to allies Israel and Egypt have been exempt.

In his all-staff email, Grandi said: “We must proceed very carefully over the next few weeks to mitigate the impact of this funding uncertainty on refugees and displaced people, on our operations and on our teams.”

“These steps will help us manage resources while we navigate this challenging period,” he added. “What is clear is that more than ever, we must continue to demonstrate the impact and efficiency of our work.”

The US provided £2bn in funding to the UNCHR according to the latest figures for 2024, a fifth of the agency’s total budget.

The Trump funding suspension, ordered by the new secretary of state Marco Rubio, comes at a time when more of the world’s population than any time since the second world war have been forced from their homes by war or unrest, either as refugees beyond their nation’s boundaries or displaced within their own countries.

“For far too long, the United States foreign aid industry and bureaucracy have not been aligned with American interests, and in many cases, antithetical to American values,” the state department spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, said. “They serve to destabilise world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly inverse to harmonious and stable relations internal to and among countries.

“The American people have demanded an end to policies that have harmed our nation for far too long and expect a return to common sense initiatives and priorities. The time for that is now,” Bruce added.

The Trump administration placed nearly 60 senior officials at the US Agency for International Development (USAid) on leave on Monday, on suspicion they had been helping humanitarian organisations cope with the freeze.

“We have identified several actions within USAID that appear to be designed to circumvent the president’s executive orders and the mandate from the American people,” Jason Gray, the agency’s acting administrator, previously its chief information officer, wrote in an email seen according to the Devex development news agency. “As a result, we have placed a number of USAID employees on administrative leave with full pay and benefits until further notice while we complete our analysis of these actions.”

Current and former USAid officials warned that the stop-work orders that have gone out around the world could put millions at mortal risk, especially if coupled with a natural disaster such as an earthquake or flood.

“If there’s a tropical cyclone that hits Cox’s Bazar tomorrow then how are you going to save all those people and then how are you going to rebuild if there’s a stop work order,” said a former senior USAid official, referring to the city in Bangladesh where more than 1 million Rohingya refugees are living. “You could have people sitting there for 90 days and sitting and waiting for what? That’s what worries more.”

The state department on Tuesday said that it would be investigating “egregious funding” that included $102,236,000 to fund the International Medical Corps in Gaza, $16,840,876 to fund institutional contractors in the gender development office and $612,000 to fund technical assistance for family planning in Latin America.