WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration said on Thursday it will provide US$73 million in new financial aid to Rohingya refugees through the UN World Food Programme, amid concerns that aid cuts could deepen the crisis for the world's largest stateless population.
"This food and nutrition support through @WFP will provide critically needed food and nutrition assistance for more than one million people," US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a post on X. "It is important that our international partners engage with sharing the burden with life-saving assistance such as this."
The infusion comes as US President Donald Trump and his administration have made sweeping cuts to foreign assistance as part of his "America First" agenda and wider efforts to drastically cut federal spending and dismantle parts of the U.S. government.
Two United Nations agencies had warned that a funding deficit would curb rations for the Rohingya in Bangladesh who have fled violence in neighbouring Myanmar for the past eight years. Refugees have worried that cuts would worsen hunger, curtail critical healthcare and fuel crime.
Washington had been the largest provider of aid to the Rohingya refugees, contributing nearly US$2.4 billion since 2017, according to the State Department. But the recent freeze on funds after Trump took office in January has forced at least five hospitals to reduce services.
Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk have moved to shutter USAID, the main US foreign aid agency, and merge its remnants into the State Department, fired hundreds of staff and contractors and terminated billions of dollars in services on which tens of millions of people around the world depend.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in February granted a waiver for all life-saving assistance and reasonable administrative costs as necessary to deliver such aid.
The Trump administration official overseeing the dismantling of USAID had proposed phasing out help for the Rohingya, Reuters reported earlier this month.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Sharon Singleton) - Reuters
