Trump administration moves to restore some foreign aid programmes, report says

USAID acting administrator Jeremy Lewin reportedly asks staff in an internal email to reverse terminations

World Food Programme parcels to be delivered to Syria in 2017. AP

The administration of US President Donald Trump on Tuesday moved to reinstate at least six recently cancelled foreign aid programmes, sources said.

USAID acting administrator Jeremy Lewin, who is also an employee of billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, asked staff in an internal email to reverse the terminations.

The programmes that he asked to restore were the World Food Programme awards in Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador, sources said.

Reuters reported on Monday that the Trump administration had ended life-saving aid programmes for more than a dozen countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, totalling more than $1.3 billion.

"Sorry for all the back and forth on awards," Mr Lewin said in the internal email. "There are a lot of stakeholders and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests – that’s my fault and I take responsibility."

The reversal followed pressure from inside the administration and from Congress, sources said, and after the UN's WFP said the closure of the programmes could be "a death sentence" for millions.

The cuts have been the latest piece of the Trump administration's drive to dismantle USAID, the main US humanitarian aid agency. The administration has cancelled billions of dollars in foreign aid since the Mr Trump began his second term on January 20.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.