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Trump’s Orders to See Majority USAID Employees Laid Off

February 7, 2025
US President-elect Donald Trump. Photo credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images.

In a move continuing his executive agenda, President Trump’s decision to slash non-essential personnel at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) could result in thousands of job losses in the near future.

According to reports from the BBC and Reuters, sources indicate that of the agency’s more than 10,000 employees worldwide, only a small fraction—just a few hundred—will remain on staff to serve the 100 countries USAID operates in. When visiting the USAID website, users are met with a message stating that, effective Friday, February 7, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. (EST), all USAID direct-hire personnel will be placed on administrative leave globally, with exceptions made for designated mission-critical functions, core leadership, and specially designated programs.

Founded 64 years ago, USAID is one of the world’s largest official aid agencies, responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. The agency has become a target of a government reorganization led by Elon Musk, a prominent Trump ally and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

On the social media platform X, former President Barack Obama criticized the decision, calling it “a profound foreign policy mistake.” He continued, stating, “USAID has been fighting disease, feeding children, and promoting goodwill around the world for six decades. ” He has also stated that dismantling USAID “would be a grave error—one that Congress should resist.”

USAID operates extensively across the Middle East, with key programs in countries like Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the West Bank/Gaza, Tunisia, Syria, Libya, and Yemen. In Egypt, USAID has had a longstanding partnership since 1978, focusing on sectors such as agriculture, education, health, governance, tourism, trade, water and sanitation, and women’s empowerment.

Despite USAID’s suspension of most services, Egypt and Israel are set to continue receiving military financing under government-issued waivers.

The suspension also casts uncertainty over USAID’s recent bilateral funding agreements, totaling US$130 million, signed by Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation in June 2024.

Already, the halt has disrupted the education sector in Egypt, particularly impacting scholarship programs at the American University in Cairo (AUC), which are now suspended due to the cuts.

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