This week, the Trump administration decided to reinstate at least six recently canceled emergency food assistance foreign aid programs. This was confirmed via email by Jeremy Lewin, acting deputy director of USAID, and a member of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
As reported by Reuters, in the document Lewin called for restoring funding for the World Food Program (WFP) in Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Iraq, and Ecuador. According to sources, the administration also restored four allocations earmarked for the International Organization for Migration in the Pacific region.
“Sorry for all the back and forth on awards,” Lewin said on Tuesday in the internal email seen by Reuters. “There are a lot of stakeholders and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests — that’s my fault and I take responsibility,” he added.
According to Stand Up For Aid, a group composed of current and former U.S. officials, WFP contracts canceled on Lewin’s orders last weekend for Lebanon, Syria, Somalia and Jordan totaled more than $463 million. Two sources explained that the decision to reinstate some aid was made as a result of internal pressure from the administration and Congress.
On Monday, WFP reported that the United States had notified the organization of the elimination of funding for emergency food assistance in 14 countries, warning: “If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation.”
At the moment, the U.S. government has decided not to put aid back in place for Taliban-controlled Afghanistan and Yemen because of the presence of Houthi rebels.
The cuts affecting the WFP are the latest step, in order of time, taken by the Trump government to dismantle USAID, the main U.S. humanitarian aid agency.
The federal administration has cancelled billions of dollars in foreign aid since the Republican president began his second term last Jan. 20, in a review that officials described as characterized by chaos and confusion.
