Oman- US President Donald Trump’s announcement of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has bore many crises and economic impacts on Jordan, which is one of the most countries that have received US aid during the past decades, and the US agency funds many huge, vital and development projects in the Kingdom.
American aid is an important part of financial support for Jordan, and its stopping may lead to an increase in financial burdens on the Jordanian government, which threatens to disrupt development and service projects, whether governmental or private, which depends heavily on the support and training of the agency, to deepen the decision of the new American administration the economic burdens on Jordan who He suffers a scarcity of resources, a rise in the energy bill, and a decline in tourism and investment rates, according to Observers.
Trump signed the executive order to reorganize the US foreign aid, with a temporary hall for a period of 90 days of external development assistance to assess program competencies, and consistency with the US foreign policy.
The American Agency for International Development operating in Jordan confirmed to Al -Jazeera Net to stop its work in Jordan, based on the decision of US President Donald Trump, and the agency said that all programs and grants had been suspended and foreign aid financing for a comprehensive review.
The American decision will be reflected in more than half of the workforce in the private sector in Jordan, and with the continued stopping, it risks the immediately negatively and indirectly affecting 55 thousand families, and 30 thousand employees in the future.
Freezing project work
Al -Jazeera Net learned that dozens of employees of the funded projects and cadres of civil society organizations operating in Jordan were informed of stopping their work, freezing all activities and activities, and projects funded by the American Agency for International Development, so that this decision will come as soon as the suspension of American aid.
The International NGOs Forum in Jordan (Jeff) had confirmed in a recent evaluation about the initial effects to suspend American development aid for a period There are 5.6 million individuals supported by the programs of NGOs funded by the United States government for the year 2025 who will also be affected by the decision.
According to the evaluation, at least 7,000 individuals of critical clinical health services will be deprived, and this includes medical services provided, in conjunction with government health services in government clinics, especially since the government has a “limited ability to bridge gaps.”
The evaluation stated that the American decision will be reflected in more than half of the workforce in the private sector in Jordan, and with the continued stopping, it risks the immediately negatively and indirectly affecting 55 thousand families, and 30 thousand employees in the future.
On the social and economic impacts on hundreds of families as a result of the stopping of the American agency’s work, and the government’s role in this, Representative Jihad Madanat asked a parliamentary question about the economic and social effects of the suspension of the American aid program to Jordan, and the question of Madainat came about the impact of stopping the aid program on development projects, and about The measures taken by the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation to address this matter and the alternative plans for the government after that.
Jordan is receiving annual US aid estimated at more than $ 1.5 billion, of which 350 million dollars are for vital projects run by the American Agency for International Development, including the sectors of education, health, food security, water, economic development, municipalities and others.
However, the recent threats that Trump made to stop the aid from Jordan and Egypt if they did not receive refugees from the Gaza Strip, put Jordan in front of a very complex crossroads, which indicates it. Dr. Jawad Al -Anani, former head of the Royal Court andThe former Deputy Prime Minister, to call for the most worse possibility than what appears on the surface, calling – in his speech to Al -Jazeera Net – the need to review the financial spending of the government, and in its investment and commercial policy in order to suit the possibilities of increasing the severity.
Economic reviews
Al -Anani considered the economic reviews of Jordan – which estimated the public budget deficit for the year 2025 at about 2.258 billion Jordanian dinars (3.18 billion dollars) – a “proactive step to confront any more severe positions”, such as imposing new customs duties on Jordanian exports to the United States.
He believed that cutting US financial aid from Jordan comes within the framework of pressure on the Kingdom to accept Trump’s plan to liquidate the Palestinian issue, displace the Palestinians from their lands, calling on his country to withstand pressure, and keep pace with successive developments.
Since the beginning of cooperation between Jordan and the US Development Agency in the 1970s, the total American aid to Jordan amounted to about 19 billion dollars, this aid was directed to several development projects, distributed through a group of basic sectors, and these are some statistics that show this:
- Allocating more than $ 2.3 billion to support health services in Jordan, including enhancing the infrastructure of hospitals and health centers, and combating infectious diseases.
- Financing educational programs that include improving the quality of education in schools, and providing scholarships for Jordanian students.
- Providing about $ 1.4 billion to support water and sanitation projects, which is vital in a country that suffers from water scarcity.
- Contribute to financing large infrastructure projects, such as improving the road and electricity network, and building renewable energy stations.
- Allocating more than $ 500 million to support Syrian refugees in Jordan, including shelter, food, and health care.
The mayor of Zarqa, Imad Al -Momani, revealed that he was informed by the American Agency for International Development to stop the support granted to the municipality, and to retract each funding agreement to establish a maintenance center for municipal mechanisms.
In a post on Facebook, Al -Momani said that the US agency decided to back down from providing support to a municipal electric car shipping station, stressing that stopping support comes within Trump’s policy to pressure Jordan to accept Emiratization and displacement projects, declaring that he rejected these pressures.
For his part, economist Hossam Ayesh confirms that civil society organizations, and many of their working persons arranged their conditions based on the aid provided by Washington to Amman.
He adds to Al -Jazeera Net that the agency’s stopping means that spending on projects will stop, and that many of the projects benefiting from American financing and related activities will be affected, which means that many workers in these organizations are among the unemployed.
Ayesh explains that the results of stopping American financing are great for civil organizations and people working in these projects, noting that this stop will have social and developmental negative effects.
He continues: “This holds the Jordanian government responsible for following up the activities of these projects, which is difficult, especially in light of the difficult economic conditions that the country suffers from.”
On the alternatives that can be followed after US aid stopped, Ayesh says: “It is necessary to reprogram the economic priorities of the Kingdom, reduce some expenses in the budget and postpone the implementation of some projects at least in the current year, enhance cooperation between the public and private sectors and enable the private sector more to take Its role in the national economy, and thus increased growth, added that the economic performance is not permissible for the head of the head the assistance that arrives, in addition to the development of Jordan. For his relations with the Arab countries, especially the Gulf ones, which can compensate for stopping or reducing American aid.
Previous American pressure
- In 1991, the US Congress agreed to stop 27 million dollars of military aid to Jordan, in response to “Jordan’s sympathy for Iraq during the Gulf War.”
- In 2020, 18 groups of American Jewish organizations invited pressure on Jordan to hand over the Jordanian prisoner, Ahlam Al -Tamimi, required for the American judiciary, and urged Washington to “use all pressure”, including the potential discounts of American financial aid, to pressure Jordan to implement the delivery agreement.
The American Agency for International Development – an independent government agency – has managed since its inception in 1961 most of the US official spending on foreign aid, with a budget estimated at tens of billions of dollars annually, and a work force that reached about 10,000 employees around the world, to form one of the soft influence tools of the states United around the world.
