Elon Musk says US President Donald Trump has agreed to shut down the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
USAID is the world’s premier international development agency. It is responsible for billions of dollars in US aid projects across the world — with most of these funds funnelled into disaster relief efforts while promoting development and global health.
Foreign assistance distributed by the agency makes up less than one percent of the US government budget.
The Tesla and X CEO said he checked in with Trump a few times who said: “Yes we are shutting it down”.
Musk, who leads the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) spoke in an X Spaces stream around midnight on Sunday, hours after describing USAID as “a criminal organization. Time for it to die”.
On Saturday, USAID’s website went dark as the Trump administration made good its campaign promise to freeze foreign assistance.
There were reports that Trump was planning to issue another executive order that would dismantle USAID and move its operations to the State Department.
USAID has over 10,000 employees in more than 100 countries. Some of the agency’s senior leadership officials were ousted in the wake of Trump’s “stop work” order and nearly 400 contract employees were laid off.
Three USAID workers told the New York Times that they were concerned that an AI programme known as Gemini had been installed in their email accounts.
Lawmakers have argued that Trump cannot unilaterally close down the agency as it is a creation of congress.
“Trump isn’t satisfied just to close programs and fire staff. He is now planning to ELIMINATE THE ENTIRE AGENCY. Maybe this weekend. That would be illegal. He cannot unilaterally close a federal agency. Another assault on the constitution,” Chris Murphy, a Democrat senator from Connecticut, posted on social media on Saturday.
“Eliminating USAID, which prevents famines, counters terrorism and creates more markets for US exports — would make the world a more dangerous place for Americans and be a gift to China and Russia,” said Amy Klobuchar, Democrat senator from Minnesota.
Trump withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the first day of his second coming, as he issued a slew of executive orders to bolster his “America first” agenda.
The US president has also embarked on a trade war with Canada, Mexico and China.
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