U.S. foreign aid cuts trigger crisis for World Food Program

The World Food Program (WFP) is facing a funding crisis following policy shifts by the second Trump administration. In January 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order freezing all U.S. foreign assistance, stating that the foreign aid bureaucracy was not aligned with American interests.

As part of these changes, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, terminated the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In April 2025, the administration ended funding to the WFP for food programs in 14 of the world’s most impoverished nations. The WFP warned that these cuts could result in a “death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation.”

While some food aid cuts were restored following public criticism, the agency remains in a period of significant instability. The WFP, a UN agency that reached over 100 million people with aid in 2024, previously relied on the U.S. government for nearly half of its funding.