(CTN News) – US millions were donated by three European friends to USAID for developing nations. Trump and Musk cut government.

Swedish, Norwegian, and Dutch officials told The Associated Press they had paid $15 million to the US Agency for International Development for international cooperative development for months.

Europeans wondered if their money would be given to programs or repaid after the Republican government and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency slashed USAID funding and most operations.

There was no response.

“It’s a concern for us, especially because we want our partner organisations to be compensated for their program work,” said Swedish overseas development agency staff Julia Lindholm.

It may be more. Unidentified sources stated several nations had donated USAID funding for cooperative development projects before President Donald Trump signed the financial block order on January 20.

The sudden termination of development and humanitarian contracts and foreign financing withdrawal under the new leadership jeopardise Washington’s financial stability. Friends worry more as Trump changes US foreign policy.

USAID and the State Department did not immediately answer questions about how much money was involved, how many foreign countries had cooperative development program funds that went unspent and unsupported during the USAID funding embargo, and whether the government was acting.

US allies were furious about USAID’s Water and Energy for Food (WE4F) effort with Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands. It helps agriculturalists in developing nations enhance food production without harming the environment or running out of water.

“Most importantly,” he wrote, “6 million of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable farmers who depend on the technologies for their food production and food security have suffered as a result of US refusal to reimburse partners.”

Other administrative projects involve classic partners. Trump supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, imposed tariffs on Canada, the EU, and others, and attacked NATO.

Americans at USAID depend on money.

Suits over USAID’s abrupt termination of 83% of contracts, which forced partner organisations to lay off staff and close, have questioned the US’s commercial partner status.

The government’s broad cancellation of thousands of USAID contracts violated financial regulations and was “destroying the United States’s credibility as a reliable partner,” according to former Defence Secretaries Chuck Hagel and William Perry, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, and over a dozen other former senior U.S. officials, who supported a federal employee.

Staffers stated, “Sends a message that this administration does not feel bound by those regulations—regulations on which every business that works with the United States relies.”

Another time, lawyers representing enterprises and corporations requesting USAID payments told a judge that the agency’s financial collapse had forced banks to stop funding partner contracts.

Development is encouraged by the Cold War-era belief that supporting developing nations lessens wars and refugee flows. Trump and Musk call USAID a sham.

To counter China’s worldwide influence and boost US trade and economic prospects, administration officials may prioritise US prosperity.

Seeking Trump administration forgiveness.

Sweden, Norway, and the Netherlands initially emailed USAID about their money due to administration foreign aid policies.

Two were upset by the lack of response to their government-to-government correspondence and planned to talk to local media about their missing funds. After Trump blocked USAID and State Department international money on Inauguration Day, the government paid $2 billion in debt under court order.

However, most USAID headquarters staff have left due to forced leaves and termination. Development managers calculate foreign government income.

According to AP, the Swedish development agency thinks it has $12 million in USAID accounts, including $5.1 million for WE4F, that has not been used for Middle Eastern, Asian, or African populations and has not been reimbursed.

Lindholm, Sweden’s development agency spokesman, called WE4F “extraordistically impactful.” Farmers and others benefited outside its main goals. The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation reports no updates on a $1.4 million WE4F grant tranche since Trump reduced USAID.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry asked USAID for the portion of the $1.6 million it had granted WE4F that had not been released and needed to be reimbursed, but received no response.

Lindholm noted “donor partners are now looking at other options to ensure a responsible completion to continue running the WE4F program.”

SOURCE: AP