US secretary of state Marco Rubio has ordered an immediate halt to work on virtually all existing foreign aid programmes pending a review into whether they are consistent with President Donald Trump’s policies, according to an internal cable seen by the Financial Times.

Current and former officials at the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) say staffers were invited to submit requests to exempt certain programmes from the foreign aid freeze, which President Donald Trump imposed on January 20 and the State Department detailed how to execute on January 24.

Exemptions include humanitarian assistance such as core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced exemptions in the freeze on foreign assistance, continuing funding for humanitarian items like shelter and medicine. President Trump had ordered a 90-day pause on assistance.

Health and humanitarian groups around the world were still uncertain on January 29 if and how they could resume work after the United States issued a waiver for “life-saving” assistance in President Donald Trump’s freeze on U.S. foreign aid.

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. The Senate quickly confirmed Marco Rubio as secretary of state Monday, voting unanimously to give President ...

The directive follows President Donald Trump’s executive order Monday pausing new obligations and disbursements of foreign aid pending review.

After Donald Trump froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid last week, international projects on health, education, food, and all other humanitarian areas were placed in jeopardy.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered a pause Friday on "all new ... It also noted that emergency food assistance, "salaries and related administrative expenses, including travel for U.S. direct ...

LONDON - Health and humanitarian groups around the world were still uncertain on Wednesday if and how they could resume work after the United States issued a waiver for \"life-saving\" assistance in President Donald Trump's freeze on U.

The United States froze virtually all foreign aid on Friday. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, sent an internal memo days after Donald Trump took office vowing an “America First” policy of tightly restricted assistance overseas.

In a follow-up memo after an outcry from aid groups, Rubio clarified that other “humanitarian assistance” besides food would also be exempt during the review period. Humanitarian assistance was defined as “core life-saving medicine, medical services, food, shelter and subsistence assistance”.