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The Donald Trump administration on Friday informed Congress that it would cut nearly all remaining jobs at the US Agency for International Development, USAID, and shut down the agency.
USAID staff were informed in an internal memo that all roles not required by law would be terminated in July and September.
The memo was sent to staff by the agency’s acting deputy administrator, Jeremy Lewin, who is also a member of Elon Musk’s job-cutting Department of Government Efficiency.
The notice came on the same day that a powerful earthquake struck Thailand and Myanmar, toppling buildings and causing numerous fatalities.
USAID has previously played a major role in coordinating disaster relief efforts.
In the memo, Lewin confirmed that all agency personnel worldwide would receive emails informing them that their jobs were being eliminated.
Staff would be given the choice of being dismissed on 1 July or 2 September, according to the memo.
Over the next three months, the State Department would assume USAID’s remaining “life-saving and strategic aid programming”.
It added that USAID personnel would not automatically be transferred to the department, which would conduct “a separate and independent hiring process.”
President Donald Trump of the United States said on Friday that he was open to carving out deals with countries seeking to avoid the US.
This was as he said those agreements would have to be negotiated after his administration announces reciprocal tariffs on April 2.
Trump states this while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One.
The president also said that he would soon be announcing tariffs targeting the pharmaceutical industry, but declined to give any details on when or at what tariff rate.
According to him, countries including Britain had approached the United States to try to cut deals and avert the reciprocal tariffs.
“They want to make deals. It’s possible if we can get something for the deal. But yeah, I’m certainly open to that. If we can do something where we get something for it,” he said.
