Trump administration says it cut funding to some life-saving UN food programs by mistake

The State Department announced Tuesday that it had reversed a number of major funding cuts to emergency projects run by the U.N. World Food Program in 14 of the world’s poorest countries, admitting that some life-saving aid contracts had been canceled by mistake.

“There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut, that have been rolled back and put into place,” said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce during a press briefing.

Bruce didn’t specify which countries had their U.S. food aid funding reinstated or how the cancellations occurred in error. She offered no further details. The World Food Program has yet to respond to inquiries for comment.

This follows a Monday report from the Associated Press revealing that the Trump administration had slashed funding to WFP emergency operations in countries including Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and 11 others grappling with crises, according to internal documents and agency officials who spoke to the AP.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top officials had previously vowed to shield emergency food programs and other critical humanitarian aid from budget cuts, even as the Trump administration—working alongside Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency—continued its overhaul of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Thousands of USAID contracts tied to foreign aid and development were axed, leaving only a few hundred remaining. These most recent cuts targeted some of the last-standing humanitarian programs still active under USAID.

Over the past week, partner organizations received notices informing them that U.S. funding for WFP emergency efforts in 14 countries was among nearly 60 program cancellations across regions including the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Pacific Islands. The terminations were carried out “for the convenience of the U.S. Government.”

These moves reportedly came under the directive of Jeremy Lewin, a senior official at the Department of Government Efficiency who has been tasked with dismantling USAID operations, as confirmed by documents obtained by the AP.

On Monday, the World Food Program publicly urged the U.S. to reconsider the sweeping cuts, warning that hundreds of millions of dollars in lost aid would devastate vulnerable populations.

“This could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation,” the agency posted on X.