After freezing funding from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Donald Trump administration has now decided to cut more than 90% of the agency's foreign aid contracts, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

The cuts, outlined in a document obtained by the WFB, were made after the US State Department completed its review of US foreign aid. A total of 15,000 contracts, worth a massive 60 billion dollars, have been identified for elimination. This includes both foreign aid provided by the US State Department and USAID. The U.S. State Department has identified around 4,100 foreign aid grants, totalling $4.4 billion, that are set to be eliminated. Additionally, the Trump administration has decided to cut up to 5,800 USAID aid contracts worth $54 billion. 

This reduction accounts for 92% of the agency’s multi-year grant spending, according to the memo cited in the report. According to a memo cited by the Associated Press (AP), some USAID grants will remain available to support lawyers in their ongoing court cases. The Trump administration decided to block foreign aid for 90 days to review whether the grants fit with its "America First" policy. However, a US federal judge ordered the administration to release the blocked payments to several foreign aid groups by Wednesday night. With the deadline approaching, the Trump administration acted quickly to review all U.S. foreign aid contracts through the State Department and USAID to determine which could be eliminated, according to a memo cited by an AP report. 

This move aims not only to reduce the amount of U.S. taxpayer money sent abroad but also to assess whether such aid benefits the country in any way. After "decades of institutional drift," the State Department stated in the memo that it would "reform the way the United States delivers foreign assistance," according to the WFB. “Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, must be justified with the answer to three simple questions: Does it make America safe? Does it make America stronger? Does it make America more prosperous?" the memo added.