U.S. withdrawal from USAID won’t give global influence to Russia or China — White House Advisor Waltz

He said this in an interview with NBC News.  

Over the past two weeks, Washington has tried to cut jobs at USAID and reduce its funding. According to Waltz, "this was justified" because the agency was doing things that "do not align with the strategic interests (of the U.S., ed.) or the president's vision."  

The National Security Adviser also denied that the withdrawal from USAID would hand influence on the international stage to Beijing and Moscow.  

"We need to restructure its mission and align it with the president's foreign policy vision," Waltz added.

USAID funding suspension: what is known  

On his first day in office, U.S. President Donald Trump made the decision to temporarily halt all U.S. foreign aid programs for 90 days for review.  

American diplomats urgently requested to exclude Ukraine-related programs from the 90-day foreign aid freeze issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.  

On January 26, media outlets, citing sources, reported that USAID received instructions to halt all projects in Ukraine.

The next day, USAID officially confirmed the suspension of funding for all programs and projects in Ukraine. The agency had funded various educational, scientific, media, and cultural projects in Ukraine, procured medical equipment and medicines for communities hosting displaced people, financed mobile medical teams that visited remote areas, as well as vaccination, rehabilitation, and psychological support programs.  

Deputy Head of the President's Office, Iryna Vereshchuk, called the temporary halt of USAID funding an unexpected and unpleasant piece of news, which cannot be ignored.  

On January 29, the Verkhovna Rada announced the start of consultations with European colleagues to replace USAID’s aid.  

U.S. Judge Carl Nichols on February 7 temporarily allowed about 2,700 employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), who had been sent on leave by President Donald Trump, to return to work.

• Since 2023, Ukraine's Khmelnytskyi has received $100 million in USAID funding for energy security. How was the money spent, how was it tracked, and why is a key project now being put on hold?