The United States provides financial aid to many countries around the world, including Egypt and Jordan, as well as a number of Arab and African countries.
According to the State Department’s Foreign aid data, the United States provided financial aid of $ 68 billion distributed over 204 countries in 2023. In 2024, the value of aid decreased to $ 39 billion, including 189 countries.
In a controversial step, US President Donald Trump decided to suspend most of this aid for a period of 90 days, with the aim of re -evaluating its usefulness and impact on American interests, with the exception of only two states of this decision, Israel and Egypt.
Later, the US President made his position, threatening to stop aid to Egypt and Jordan completely unless they agree to receive the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, according to his declared plan for their resettlement. These statements were met with a wide rejection of a large number of Arab countries and the international community, including Egypt and Jordan.
In this context, Daniel Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher College at the University of Tats, told ABC News, saying, “The goal of these pressures is to force Egypt and Jordan to accept all Palestinians who are currently living in the Gaza Strip, which will pave the way for the states United to re -draw the area map. ”
The 10 most prominent countries receiving American aid in the world
Before addressing the details of the American aid provided to Egypt and Jordan, it is necessary to review the list of the 10 most countries that received American aid in 2023, according to a report published by the “US News” platform recently:
- Ukraine: 17.2 billion dollars.
- Israel: $ 3.3 billion.
- Jordan: $ 1.7 billion.
- Egypt: $ 1.5 billion.
- Ethiopia: $ 1.46 billion.
- Somalia: $ 1.2 billion.
- Nigeria: $ 1 billion.
- Congo: 990 million dollars.
- Afghanistan: 886 million dollars.
- Kenya: 846 million dollars.
American aid to Egypt and Jordan
The United States provided financial aid to Egypt worth $ 1.5 billion in 2023, which is the annual average that Egypt has obtained since it signed the peace agreement with Israel.
According to the US State Department, total US aid provided to Egypt from 1978 to 2022 amounted to more than $ 50 billion in military aid, in addition to $ 30 billion in economic aid.
Besides, the US government has invested about 604 million dollars in the development and and and the concealment of the telecommunications sector in Egypt, and American commodities were exported to Egypt worth 5.9 billion dollars to support the expansion and modernization of Egyptian infrastructure. In addition, the United States provided 350 million dollars in the form of scholarships and exchange opportunities for more than 23 thousand Egyptian, American and professional students in the middle of their career, and allocated $ 100 million to preserve the Egyptian cultural heritage, according to the same source.
Economic relations between Egypt and America
According to the same source, the volume of bilateral trade in goods between Egypt and the United States reached about $ 9.1 billion in 2021, the highest level that was registered until that time.
In 2024, the value of bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to approximately $ 8.6 billion, and US goods exports to Egypt during the same year reached 6.1 billion dollars, recording an increase of 36% compared to 2023, according to the office of the United States Commercial Representative.
On the other hand, the total imports of American commodities from Egypt amounted to $ 2.5 billion in 2024, an increase of 6.7% over 2023. As for the trade balance surplus in favor of the United States, it reached $ 3.5 billion in 2024, achieving an increase of 69.4% compared to the previous year, According to the same source.
Egypt is the largest export market for the United States in Africa, and includes American exports to Egypt wheat, corn, metal fuel, machinery, aircraft and iron and steel products, according to the US State Department.
On the other hand, the United States imports from Egypt clothes, fertilizers, textiles and agricultural products. According to the QIZ agreement, Egyptian imports to the United States are exempted from customs duties, provided that they contain 10.5% of Israeli components. According to the American government, this agreement aims to strengthen relations between peace partners in the region.
Besides, American companies operate in various sectors of the Egyptian economy, including exploring and producing oil, gas, renewable energy, financial services, manufacturing, construction, communications and information technology, in addition to the restaurant and hospitality industry.
As for investments, US direct investment flows to Egypt amounted to $ 1.5 billion in 2020, which raised the total long -term accumulated inventory for American direct American investment to about $ 24 billion, according to the same source.
The United States provided $ 1.7 billion in financial aid to Jordan in 2023, according to US State Department’s Foreign aid data.
Over the past 15 years, US annual aid to Jordan has witnessed a multiplication of three times, which reflects the increasing importance of the relationship between the two countries. According to a report issued by the “Fez Project”, which belongs to the US Congress and aims to enhance public control over security policies, the total bilateral aid (subject to the supervision of the US State Department and Defense ministries) offered to Jordan until the fiscal year 2020 amounted to approximately 26.4 billion dollars.
On September 16, 2022, the United States and Jordan signed the Fourth Memorandum of Understanding to organize US aid to Jordan, which extends for seven years (from the fiscal year 2023 to 2029), and includes providing $ 1.45 billion annually of economic and military aid.
At the level of legislation, the US Congress seeks to continue to support Jordan and perhaps increase it. For example, draft law No. 8771, related to the allocations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Operations and Related Programs for the year 2025, provides for allocating at least $ 1.65 billion to Jordan, including 400 One million dollars in economic support funds to support Jordanian budget, and $ 50 million in the framework of foreign military financing (FMF). Thus, the US House of Representatives (Congress) is expected to allocate $ 2.1 billion as a total US aid to Jordan, the highest level has been registered so far, according to the report.
Strategic role
In exchange for this huge aid, the report indicated that Jordan hosts more than 3 thousand American soldiers on its territory, which reflects the importance of its role in the American defense strategy in the region, and the administration of former US President Joe Biden recognized that Jordan is a major partner in peace achievement efforts, It called for continuing to provide aid.
Bilateral economic relations
The United States and Jordan maintains a strong economic partnership, and the free trade agreement between the two countries (FTA), which entered into force on December 17, 2001, is one of the main pillars of this relationship, and this agreement has fully canceled customs duties as of 1 January 2010, according to the USTr Commercial Representative Office (USTR).
Jordan also benefits from the QIZS program, which was established in 1996, which allows Jordanian products that contain Israeli components in a specific rate of entry into the United States exempt from customs duties, according to the same source.
In 2024, the total trade exchange of goods between Jordan and the United States amounted to about $ 5.4 billion, distributed as follows:
- US commodities exports to Jordan amounted to $ 2.0 billion, an increase of 30.9% compared to 2023.
- Total American imports from Jordan reached 3.4 billion dollars, an increase of 15.4% compared to the previous year.
- The US trade balance deficit with Jordan amounted to $ 1.4 billion, recording a decrease of 2.3% compared to 2023, according to the same source.
Are there alternatives?
Despite the difficulty of options, the search for alternative financing sources remains an option, and among the most prominent alternatives to regional allies such as the Arab Gulf states, cooperation with the European Union, or even heading towards international powers such as Russia and China.
Jordan has already started to diversify its financial support sources, as it signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with the European Union, according to which it will receive 3 billion euros within 3 years, and this package includes grants and public and private investments, in addition to direct financial assistance, according to the European Union mission published to Jordan .
In addition to promises Egypt received to obtain support from the European Union countries, it may seek to strengthen its relations with China, after Cairo and Beijing announced the naming in 2024 with the “year of the Egyptian-Chinese partnership”, in a move that reflects the growing rapprochement between the two countries.
